Spezza scores twice in Stars win against Red Wings

DETROIT-- Jason Spezza scored two tiebreaking goals in his return to the Dallas Stars lineup, a 4-2 win against the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena on Tuesday.

Spezza was a healthy scratch in a 3-2 overtime win against the Boston Bruins on Monday.
"I didn't like the decision, but we have to get through that and move forward," the 34-year-old center said. "It was good to be back in the lineup tonight and contribute to a victory. I definitely wanted to have a good game after something like that."
WATCH: [All Stars vs. Red Wings highlights]
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Dallas coach Ken Hitchcock said after the game Monday he expected Spezza to play well Tuesday.
"He played like he can and he played like he will going forward," Hitchcock said after this game,
his 1,500th as an NHL coach
. "We expect him to play that way every night, and he has done it at times, but not consistently."
Radek Faksa and Martin Hanzal scored for the Stars (26-17-3), who won for the sixth time in eight games. Ben Bishop made 13 saves.

Trevor Daley and Andreas Athanasiou scored for the Red Wings (18-19-7), who have lost three of four. Jimmy Howard made 22 saves.
"There just wasn't a lot happening out there tonight," Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. "It was a muddy track and they did a nice job of limiting what we were able to do."
Daley gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead 44 seconds into the first period. Bishop stopped Tyler Bertuzzi's shot but ended up well outside his crease. Bertuzzi got the rebound, circled the net and passed to Daley for his third of the season.

Faksa made it 1-1 at 2:48 when he tipped Esa Lindell's high shot off the ice and over Howard's left shoulder.
Spezza gave Dallas a 2-1 lead at 8:55, tipping a John Klingberg shot with the Stars on a 5-on-3 power play. It was Spezza's first goal since Dec. 9 against the Vegas Golden Knights (14 games).
"It was huge for [Spezza] to get that one," said Klingberg, who extended his point streak to seven games (two goals, 10 assists). "He's been struggling a bit, so I was really happy to see him come back into the line and score a couple like that."
Athanasiou made it 2-2 at 11:43 of the second, taking a long pass from Bertuzzi and scoring on a breakaway.

"I think we pulled that off once in a prospects tournament," Bertuzzi said. "[Dylan Larkin] makes that pass all the time, and everyone knows that if [Athanasiou] gets the puck deep he's gone and he's probably going to finish."
Spezza's second power-play goal gave Dallas a 3-2 lead at 14:08 of the second. Frans Nielsen hit the post on a 2-on-0 shorthanded breakaway, and the Stars came back up ice with Spezza scoring his seventh of the season.

"That's the biggest moment in the game, probably," Detroit captain Henrik Zetterberg said. "We get the shorthanded breakaway and hit the post and they go down and score to take the lead."
Hanzal made it 4-2 at 9:13 of the third period off Remi Elie's rebound. The Red Wings pulled Howard with 4:51 to play but didn't create a dangerous scoring chance, and the Stars hit the post twice.

Goal of the game

Faksa's goal at 2:48 of the first period.

Save of the game

Bishop's save on Gustav Nyquist at 3:29 of the second period.

Highlight of the game

Spezza's goal at 8:55 of the first period.

They said it

"We won this game because of our second-wave players, which is what we've been harping on for months. If we expect to be a playoff team, we can't rely on the same two or three guys every night." -- Stars coach Ken Hitchcock
"It is hard to play against a team that limits your time and space, and that's exactly what Dallas does with their forechecking. We were trying to use our speed but they kept us pinned in our own end." -- Red Wings forward Andreas Athanasiou

Need to know

Hitchcock is 807-491-114 with 88 ties as coach of the Philadelphia Flyers, St. Louis Blues, Columbus Blue Jackets and Dallas (twice). ... Spezza hadn't scored two power-play goals in the same game since doing so for the Ottawa Senators in a 5-4 win against the Washington Senators on March 30, 2010. ... Detroit had one shot in the first 13 minutes of the third period. ... Daley's goal was his first point against the Stars, for whom he played his first 11 NHL seasons. He now has a point against all 31 NHL teams.

What's next

Stars: At the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; FS-O, FS-SW, NHL.TV)
Red Wings: At the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; FS-D, FS-CR, NHL.TV)