Stars fail to gain in Central playoff race with loss to Hurricanes

The Dallas Stars failed to gain ground in the Discover Central Division playoff race in a 5-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes at American Airlines Center in Dallas on Tuesday.

Jordan Staal, Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov each had three points for the Hurricanes (32-10-7), who are 5-0-3 in the past eight games. Alex Nedeljkovic made 27 saves.
"We got to the game we wanted to play, everyone was buying in," Staal said. "Everyone was moving their feet and making the right plays. Obviously, it turned into some good stuff."
Dallas is in fifth in the eight-team Central, two points behind the fourth-place Nashville Predators for the final Stanley Cup Playoff berth from the division with two games in hand. Nashville lost to the Florida Panthers 7-4 on Tuesday.
Carolina, Florida and the Tampa Bay Lightning have qualified for the playoffs. The Hurricanes are two points ahead of the Panthers and three ahead of the Lightning for first place.
Jason Robertson scored, and Anton Khudobin made 25 saves for the Stars (21-16-12), who had won six of seven.
"They're big, they're fast, they forecheck and they come at you," Dallas coach Rick Bowness said. "It was more us, our inability to handle all of those issues. We were half a step behind physically and half a step behind emotionally. When you do that against that team, they're going to make you look as bad as we did tonight."

Staal scored a power-play goal to give the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead at 7:08 of the first period. Svechnikov's shot deflected off Aho's skate before Staal scored from the slot.
"[Staal] just does what he does. He's just consistent every shift," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "I can't say enough about him."
Aho made it 2-0 at 8:09 when he one-timed a shot from the left face-off circle after Khudobin kicked out a long rebound from Brett Pesce's shot.
Staal scored his second power-play goal on a rebound off the end glass to extend the lead to 3-0 at 1:13 of the second period.
"I'm happy where I'm at and where this team is at," Staal said. "Contributing on both sides of the puck is what I've always wanted to do. This year, the puck has been going in, which is nice. I'm getting an opportunity on the power play. It's been a fun season."
Robertson cut it to 3-1 at 7:45 when he followed his own rebound to score at the net. He extended his point streak to nine games (four goals, nine assists), a Dallas rookie record.
"I just try to do my role here, so if I can produce offensively, [it's] great for the team," Robertson said. "But at the end of the day, if we don't win, I didn't achieve our goal."
Morgan Geekie's pass from behind the net set up Max McCormick for a backhand at the top of the crease for a 4-1 lead at 5:18 of the third period. Nino Niederreiter took a pass from Staal at the left hash marks and scored to make it 5-1 at 12:14.

Hurricanes forward Teuvo Teravainen returned to the lineup after missing 25 games recovering from a concussion. He had one hit and two blocked shots in 16:32.
"Obviously, that's huge for us," Brind'Amour said. "For being out as long as he was, he was good."
NOTES: Stars defenseman John Klingberg returned after missing two games with a lower-body injury. He was minus-2 with two blocked shots in 21:25. … Khudobin allowed 16 goals in four games against Carolina this season (0-3-1) . … Aho extended his point streak to five games (three goals, six assists). … It was Staal's fourth multigoal game of the season. … Svechnikov had three assists in a game for the first of his NHL career. … Nedeljkovic is 5-0-1 in his past six starts. … McCormick has scored in consecutive games for the first time in his NHL career. … Robertson has scored 40 points (15 goals, 25 assists), one behind Minnesota Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov for the most by an NHL rookie this season. … Carolina won the season series 6-1-1. Dallas was 2-4-2. … The Stars will play their final seven games on the road. They finished 13-7-8 at home.