Shore's "lacrosse" goal helps Stars beat Coyotes 4-1

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Devin Shore's oddity of a goal was the result of years of playing a different sport.

"Yeah, 15 years of lacrosse paid off, I guess," Shore said with a smile after the Dallas Stars beat the Arizona Coyotes 4-1 on Thursday night.

Shore also had an assist during Dallas' three-goal second period, and the Stars extended their winning streak against the Coyotes to seven. Arizona has lost seven of nine overall, though this was its first game in a week thanks to the All-Star break.

Shore tied it at 1 in an atypical way when he lifted his stick to bat in the puck after Jason Spezza chipped it over the goal from behind the net. That was at the three-minute mark of the second.

"Heck of a play by 'Spezz' ... You stick with it, get a bounce and it was good," Shore said.

Shore set up the second goal on a power play for Dallas at 5:21. He collected a rebound and centred to Tyler Seguin, whose shot got by Scott Wedgewood.

Kari Lehtonen stopped 17 shots and improved to 6-2 in his last eight starts, all on the road.

"I felt good going out there," Lehtonen said. "The start was a little rough ... but I was able to recover from that and keep playing."

Seguin got his team-leading 24th goal, and John Klingberg picked up his 43rd assist to lead the Stars.

Dallas had a potential third goal disallowed when the Coyotes challenged for offside, and Jamie Benn's power-play goal was reversed. But Mattias Janmark made it 3-1 at 6:36 of the second when he scored on a side-angle shot.

"We got going and once we started playing on our toes, we were excellent and carried it through the rest of the game," Stars coach Ken Hitchcock said.

All of the goals came against backup Wedgewood, with Antti Raanta removed from the lineup after he was involved in an auto accident on his way to the game. Wedgewood had 21 saves.

Wedgewood kept the Stars from scoring a fourth goal in the second, when he smothered Seguin's breakaway attempt with 21.4 seconds to go.

Esa Lindell's empty-net goal with 1:36 to play completed the scoring.

Kevin Connauton, a defenceman whose first goal of the season came on Oct. 10, scored his second at 4:06 of the first period to give the Coyotes an early lead. His wrist shot beat Lehtonen with help from teammate Christian Fischer limiting Lehtonen's view of the puck on Arizona's second shot on goal of the game.

The Coyotes have 12 first-period goals in their last eight games.

The Stars served six minutes of penalties in the period, four to defenceman Julius Honka for a high stick to the face of Arizona's Brad Richardson. But the Coyotes couldn't capitalize on the power play and went 0 for 6 for the game.

"A lot of inexperience in the sense of one or two passes, shoot the puck, get people in there," Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet said of his team's power-play struggles. "I think a couple times guys got rattled for a reason, got skated into."

NOTES: The Coyotes turned to Wedgewood in net though Raanta was available to play. Raanta remained in the dressing room for the entire game and was held out as a precaution after he was rear-ended on a local freeway late Thursday afternoon. ... D Jason Demers (upper body injury) did not play and is day-to-day. ... Coyotes broadcaster Bob Heethuis called his 1,000th career game. ... Stars F Antoine Roussel missed his second straight game with a nasal infection. C Martin Hanzal, a former longtime Coyote, was also scratched and missed his fourth straight game with a muscle strain.

UP NEXT

Stars: Host Minnesota on Saturday.

Coyotes: At Los Angeles Saturday.

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Jose M. Romero, The Associated Press