Hurricanes hand Stars first loss of season

RALEIGH, N.C. --Vincent Trocheck had two goals and an assist, and the Carolina Hurricanes handed the Dallas Stars their first loss with a 4-1 win at PNC Arena on Saturday.

James Reimer made 10 saves in relief of Petr Mrazek (no saves), who left the game with an upper-body injury at 2:47 of the first period following a collision with Hurricanes forward Max McCormick.
"The effort, that's what's been really special," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "We're just digging in, to a man."
Sebastian Aho and Martin Necas each had two assists for Carolina (4-1-0), which has won three straight.
"Finally, we're finding some chemistry it seems like," Necas said. "We've just got to keep building on that. Hopefully we're going to keep scoring more and more goals."

Joe Pavelski scored for Dallas (4-1-0). Anton Khudobin allowed four goals on 16 shots before being replaced in the second period by Jake Oettinger, who made 10 saves.
"I don't blame [Khudobin]," Stars coach Rick Bowness said. "It was the five guys in front of him and the four guys on the penalty kill. We just didn't play very smart and we didn't play hard enough."
Trocheck scored from in front off a backhand pass from Necas to give the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead at 4:05 of the first period. Steven Lorentz, who was playing his second NHL game, got his first NHL point with the secondary assist on the play.
"[Trocheck] has been great, and that's one of the reasons we got the win tonight," Brind'Amour said. "He was really good. You can't say enough about it. That center position is so important."
Trocheck scored the first of three straight Carolina power-play goals to make it 2-0 at 6:55, getting to the rebound of his initial tip in front.
"I thought our power play has been real good this whole start to the season," Trocheck said. "We're moving the puck really well, getting our looks. It was just a matter of time before they started going in."
Andrei Svechnikov scored his fourth of the season when he took a pass from Aho and tucked in a backhand for a 3-0 lead at 8:42 of the second period. Ryan Dzingel extended the lead to 4-0 at 10:21, gathering a cross-ice pass from Necas and scoring from low in the right circle.

Pavelski scored on the rebound of John Klingberg's shot to make it 4-1 at 9:36 of the third period. Pavelski's goal was his fifth of the season and fourth with the man-advantage.
"They were good, we weren't," Pavelski said. "They seemed to be skating. They were kind of on top of us all night. We knew it was going to be a tough game. We've got to produce a little bit more. We've got to be a little better, a little harder and even the game out a little better."
Dallas managed four shots at even strength, none in the final 45:47. Each is the worst by a team since the NHL started tracking the statistic consistently in 2009-10.
"We made a lot of wrong decisions," Bowness said. "I saw guys wide open and all they had to do was put in on the net. That's got everything to do with a player making a bad decision."
NOTES: The teams play again here Sunday. Bowness said he hopes forward Jamie Benn (lower body), who has missed the past four games, will be able to play. ... Hurricanes forward Jesper Fast remained in COVID-19 protocol for the second straight game. ... Comeau made his season debut after completing COVID-19 protocol. … McCormick left the game with an upper-body injury in the first period after he was checked into the end boards by Comeau. ... Carolina has allowed seven goals this season, the fewest through the first five games in Hurricanes/Hartford Whalers history.