The Hurricanes jumped on the Stars early Saturday night. Stars goalie Anton Khudobin had to turn away a Lucas Wallmark breakaway 3:48 into the game. Less than two minutes later, a Jamie Benn to Tyler Seguin pass in the Hurricanes zone misfired leading to a Carolina 2-on- 1 rush the other way, and Sebastian Aho set up Justin Williams, who scored from the right circle, giving the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead at the 5:09 mark of the first. Carolina made it 2-0 at 8:31 of the first on a Brock McGinn goal after the Stars missed on a couple of chances to clear the puck out of their end.
"It's difficult for us to come from behind. It's been proven all year," said Stars coach Jim Montgomery. "Anytime we fall behind it's not a good situation."
After that, it was the Petr Mrazek show for the Hurricanes. The Carolina goaltender was superb in keeping the Stars off the board the rest of the way, making several big saves.
In the first period, he had a great poke check to deny a Radek Faksa chance, a sharp stop on Alexander Radulov with the Stars on the power play, and then a spectacular save on a point-blank bid by Andrew Cogliano. In the second, Mrazek made a big stop on a close-range bid by Jason Dickinson and Cogliano couldn't finish a chance at a wide-open net. Then, the Hurricanes goaltender made a great stop on a point-blank bid by Roope Hintz off the rush in the third.
"At this point, you've got to put them in. Chances don't count on the scoreboard," said Cogliano. "We had some really good looks. I had some good looks. I thought the second one was just a lucky defenseman's stick somehow. This is the time where you've got to bear down and put the chances in when you get them."
The Hurricanes sealed the win with a late goal on the power play by Micheal Ferland.
Carolina (31-23-6) won for the fifth time in the last six games, eighth in the last 10 and improved to 16-5-1 over their last 22 games. They moved into the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
