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Dallas Stars put together best first period of the season in 6-3 win against Toronto

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DALLAS — The Dallas Stars put together their best first period of the season in a 6-3 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Dallas scored five times on 12 shots in the period and for the first time in several weeks, looked like the better team throughout the opening stanza.

“I thought we came out with a lot of energy, skated well,” Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. “We played probably the best first period all year.”

While Ruff was happy with his start, Mike Babcock was disappointed without his team came out of the All-Star Break.

“Well, it’s disappointing obviously. I thought we had a good practice yesterday, a good skate, and we didn’t compete hard enough here as a group tonight to have any kind of success whatsoever,” Babcock said. “I don’t think it’s any indication at all of how we’ve played or have played, so it’s disappointing, actually it’s surprising. Can’t be very proud of the way you walk out of the rink tonight.”

The Stars weathered a storm in the third period and got outshot 14-1, but the first period was enough to extend a four-game point streak.

“I thought overall in the third we played smarter,” Ruff said. “We made a few mistakes with the puck but overall tried to play a smart third period. We played a little bit scared, scared to make a big mistake, and it’s hard to play that way. But we’ve had so many things go wrong, and I think that it’s going to take a game or two to get out of that where we just continue to play. You’re going to make plays, you’re going to get the puck in the right area, and I thought a couple of our reads weren’t good enough to create enough pressure.”

Postgame video

More reviews

The Stars had to endure another review and goalie Kari Lehtonen wasn’t sure to expect as the officials looked at the replay, which ultimately revealed that there was distinct kicking motion from Nikita Soshnikov against Lehtonen’s stick that knocked the puck into the net.

“I knew I was pushed in, so I was not too worried about it,” Lehtonen said. “Then it starts taking longer and then you look more and more, and I figured our guy pushed their guy into me. But that’s not what I thought they were looking at first. I didn’t know there was some type of kicking or anything, they pushed me into the net when the puck was still out there. I wasn’t worried until about 10 seconds before they called it and I figure it out. That’s what they said, but yea I wasn’t worried the first couple minutes, because I thought their guy just pushed me into the net before the puck. But the replays revealed some more stuff. Yea it was good, because there would have been lots of time left.”

In the last game before the All-Star break the Stars survived a trio of reviews in a 4-3 win against the Buffalo Sabres

The goals

First period

2:53 Devin Shore scored on a superb individual effort and gave Dallas an early lead against the team he rooted for as a child. Stars 1, Maple Leafs 0

4:37 Radek Faksa slammed home a rebound after an initial shot by Patrick Sharp in his first game back from injury. Stars 2, Maple Leafs 0

11:18 Lauri Korpikoski scored on a backhand for his seventh goal of the season. Stars 3, Maple Leafs 0

13:46 Toronto responded on the power play with Tyler Bozak finishing off a pass from Jamie van Riemsdyke and Mitch Marner. Stars 3, Maple Leafs 1

16:04 Brett Ritchie scored from the front of the net on a sharp pass from Julius Honka. Stars 4, Maple Leafs 1

18:22 Jamie Benn scored on the power play for his 14th goal of the season. Stars 5, Maple Leafs 1

Second period

4:18 Toronto capitalized on a turnover by Julius Honka and Nikita Soshnikov scored his third goal of the season. Stars 5, Maple Leafs 2

7:49 Jason Spezza scored after an initial move by Tyler Seguin. Stars 6, Maple Leafs 2

10:25 Mitch Marner beat Kari Lehtonen with a wrist shot. Stars 6, Maple Leafs 3

Stars lineup:

Jamie Benn — Cody Eakin — Patrick Eaves
Antoine Roussel — Jason Spezza — Tyler Seguin
Devin Shore — Radek Faksa– Patrick Sharp
Lauri Korpikoski — Adam Cracknell — Brett Ritchie

Esa Lindell — John Klingberg
Dan Hamhuis — Julius Honka
Jordie Benn — Stephen Johns

Kari Lehtonen
Antti Niemi

Scratched: Jiri Hudler, Curtis McKenzie, Patrik Nemeth

Injured: Mattias Janmark (knee), Ales Hemsky (hip), Jamie Oleksiak (hand), Johnny Oduya (lower body)

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