Benn scores hat trick in Stars win against Blues

ST. LOUIS -- Jamie Benn scored a hat trick, and the Dallas Stars closed the gap on third place in the Central Division with a 4-1 win against the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center on Saturday.

Benn missed the past two games with an upper-body injury but returned to get his fifth NHL hat trick and first since April 7, 2018.
"It's good. I thought it wasn't the prettiest, but we had a great team effort and found a way to get two big points," Benn said. "It's not fun watching, that's for sure, but for the games I did watch, our team played pretty good. It was obviously nice to get back out there tonight."
WATCH: [All Stars vs. Blues highlights]
Stars coach Jim Montgomery was more than pleased to get his captain back in the lineup.
"I don't think I have to evaluate it. It was superb," Montgomery said. "Having him back, you could tell there was more jump by our team and a lot more confidence. Obviously his will and his determination on his goals was really important for our victory."

The Stars (33-27-5) moved within three points of the Blues (34-25-6) for third in the Central. They lead the Minnesota Wild by one point for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
"It's really important to just get wins, period, right now, but obviously within our division," Montgomery said. "It's nice to go 3-1 against them on the season and a team that's playing really well. It's good. It was a playoff game tonight and we found a way to win."
John Klingberg had a goal and two assists, and Ben Bishop made 29 saves for the Stars.
Alex Pietrangelo scored, and rookie goalie
Jordan Binnington
made 17 saves for the Blues, who had their seven-game home winning streak end. Binnington lost for the first time on home ice this season (7-1-0).

The Blues are 2-3-1 and have scored nine goals in their past six games while playing without top-six forwards David Perron (upper body) and Brayden Schenn (upper body).
"We've got to find a way to get some goals here again," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "It's kind of dried up for a few games here now. I think we're getting some looks, but it's not the same. We're not controlling the play in the offensive zone, getting as many looks, good looks."
St. Louis, which is 13-3-1 its past 17 games, lost consecutive games for the first time since Jan. 15-17, and dropped consecutive games in regulation for the first time since Dec. 29-31.

"You never know how the game's going to end up," said Blues forward Ryan O'Reilly, who has no points in the past five games after getting 21 points (eight goals, 13 assists) in the previous 17. "Now we've lost two in a row, but we can't think about it too much. Get some rest tomorrow and get back to work and figure out what we need to do better."
Benn scored at 16:52 of the first period to give the Stars a 1-0 lead. Klingberg made it 2-0 at 18:44.
Pietrangelo cut the lead to 2-1 at 15:40 of the second period, but Benn's second of the game on the power play at 17:11 made it 3-1.
Benn completed the hat trick at 19:31 of the third period, scoring his 24th goal of the season into an empty net for the 4-1 final.

They said it

"Obviously a hat trick and just coming back and being vocal and driving the bus for the whole team on the ice, so a huge impact for us to have him back." -- Stars defenseman John Klingberg on Jamie Benn
"We know he's got a [15-3-1] record. That's pretty good. But I just try to put pucks on net and make life tough on him." -- Stars forward Jamie Benn on Blues goalie Jordan Binnington
"I think it's on us, most of the goals the last two games. I think we've got to be better with the puck. Better puck placement and stop turning the puck over. I don't think the other teams are doing anything special or different. I think we can be better." -- Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist

Need to know

Benn's first NHL hat trick came against the Blues in St. Louis during a 4-1 win Feb. 17, 2015. He is the third player to get five hat tricks since the Stars relocated to Dallas in 1993-94 (Tyler Seguin, 7; Mike Modano, 6). ... Dallas went 3-0-1 on its four-game road trip. … Seguin had an assist and has six points (three goals, three assists) in his past seven games. … Stars forward Blake Comeau had an assist and needs one point for 300 in the NHL. ... The Blues' last home loss was 3-1 to the Stars on Jan. 8.

What's next

Stars:Host the New York Rangers on Tuesday (8:30 p.m. ET; FS-SW, MSG, NHL.TV)
Blues: At the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday (10 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NHL.TV)