Music: {allcanada} Lehtonen, Stars shut out slumping Canucks

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

{allcanada} Lehtonen, Stars shut out slumping Canucks

VANCOUVER -- The Dallas Stars followed through on a pledge to be better defensively but only after Kari Lehtonen bailed them out early.

Lehtonen made 11 of his 27 saves in the first period and Colton Sceviour scored early in the second to lead the Stars to a 2-0 win against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on Wednesday night.

Antoine Roussel scored an empty-net goal with 26 seconds left for the Stars, who have won three of their past four games.

Lehtonen came in ranked 38th in the NHL with a .902 save percentage, well below his .914 career average, and had given up 34 goals in his previous 10 starts. But he was brilliant with the Canucks buzzing early, stopping two breakaways in the second period and making 12 saves in the third for his second shutout of the season.

Dallas (12-13-5) has won six straight games against the Canucks.

Eddie Lack made 27 saves in a surprise start ahead of Ryan Miller, but Vancouver (18-11-2) lost its fifth straight game (0-4-1).

The Stars, who have the NHL's worst goals-against average, spent three straight practice days last week focused on improving their defensive play. But for the most part Wednesday, they leaned on Lehtonen, especially early.

Lehtonen kept the Stars in the game despite being outshot 11-5 in the first period. He robbed Radim Vrbata on a good look 36 seconds in, then denied Chris Higgins from the slot and turned aside a great Linden Vey chance in the opening six minutes. He later got a blocker on Higgins' shot on a shorthanded 2-on-0 break and threw out the right pad to turn away a Daniel Sedin power-play redirect in the slot.

Lehtonen made another good save with the glove off Jannik Hansen when the Canucks forward came in alone after stripping the puck from Stars rookie defenseman Jyrki Jokipakka at the blue line 2:44 into the second period.

Dallas opened the scoring on a bad goal nine seconds later.

Sceviour threw a backhand at the net from a sharp angle after cutting in off the left wing, and Lack, reaching down to scoop it off the ice, instead had it bounce into the net off the edge of his glove.

It was Sceviour's second goal of the season and third point in five games, matching his total from the first 22 games of the season.

The Stars' Tyler Seguin, who leads the NHL in goals (23) and points (38, hit the crossbar behind Lack at the end of a first period power play. He was held without a point for the first time in five games.

After dominating the first period, Vancouver only managed four shots in the second, but Lehtonen turned aside Alexandre Burrows on a breakaway, that appeared to be offside in the final minute.

Lehtonen made a left-pad stop off Vey's spinning shot in the slot midway through the third to preserve his 29th career shutout.

Lack threw out the right pad to stop Curtis McKenzie on a clear-cut breakaway with 3:14 left to keep it close, but the Canucks couldn't get another shot on Lehtonen even after pulling Lack for an extra attacker.

Vancouver was 0-for-4 on the power play. The Canucks have not scored on the man advantage in six games.

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