Stars hang on to top Maple Leafs

TORONTO -- Anton Khudobin made 30 saves to help the Dallas Stars defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-1 at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday.

Khudobin was making his third start of the season and first since a 3-0 loss at the New Jersey Devils on Oct. 16.
"It's tough, I try to put the things away from my head and to be honest, I said to myself whatever is going to be is going to be," Khudobin said. "It's not easy to not] play for two weeks and then go up against a team like this. The more often I play, I wouldn't say it's easier, but you stay in rhythm, you feel the game better."
***[WATCH: [All Stars vs. Maple Leafs highlights]*
Jamie Benn and Devin Shore scored, and Tyler Seguin had two assists for the Stars (7-5-0), who are 4-1-0 in their past five games.
"That was a greasy win tonight, that was fun," Seguin said.
Patrick Marleau scored, and Frederik Andersen made 16 saves for the Maple Leafs (8-5-0), who are 2-4-0 in their past six games.

"I thought it was a pretty good hockey game," Toronto coach Mike Babcock said. "I thought our team was engaged, I thought we worked hard, I thought we started good. In the end, you've got to score. What I liked about us is we didn't lose our focus, we didn't start running around the rink, we kind of stayed with it. I don't think they gave up very much until the end and I don't think we gave up very much. In the end, we've got to find a way to win the game."
Dallas coach Jim Montgomery said he was impressed with how Khudobin played despite 16 days between games.
"It was incredible. He's such a great teammate. He brings energy every day and puts a smile on everyone's face," Montgomery said. "With Ben Bishop playing so well, it's been hard to get him in as many games as we'd like, but it's great for his confidence and great for the team morale with how well he played. It shows we have two great goalies."

The Stars took a 1-0 lead at 11:55 of the second period when Benn, positioned in the slot, deflected Seguin's shot from the top of the left face-off circle.
Shore made it 2-0 at 4:43 of the third period when he scored from the right circle off a cross-ice pass from Mattias Janmark. Shore has eight points (two goals, six assists) in his past six games.
"He's just a smart hockey player," Montgomery said. "I like the way he possesses pucks and the poise he has with the puck. He's starting to get a lot of confidence and with that he's skating harder and winning more 1-on-1 battles. He's a guy that I'm going to continue to move around because I think he can get other players going. He has such great energy on the bench and says the right things. He's a glue guy I can move any way in the top nine."
Toronto pulled Andersen with 3:31 left in the third period when Dallas forward Brett Ritchie was assessed a two-minute minor penalty for tripping. Marleau scored 22 seconds later, putting in a rebound to make it 2-1 with 3:09 remaining.

Marleau had gone five games without a goal and had scored one in his first 12 games.
"It felt good, it's good to get rewarded, but you'd like to see it come on the winning side of things," Marleau said.
The Maple Leafs pulled Andersen again with 2:18 remaining.

They said it

"Just put [Khudobin] in front of them I guess. They're talented from top to bottom. No surprise the damage they're doing these days. It's nice to keep them to one and I'm glad we won't see them for a while now." -- Stars left wing Jamie Benn on holding the Maple Leafs to one goal

"The organization from the top down -- through the staff, the training staff and the players -- went out of their way to make it a great day and they did that, so thanks to them. My kids didn't cry, so that's a success as far as I'm concerned." -- Maple Leafs defenseman Ron Hainsey on being honored with his family on the ice with a video presentation before playing his 1,000th NHL game

Need to know

Stars forward Alexander Radulov missed his fifth game in the past six with a lower-body injury. … The Maple Leafs have been held without a goal through the first two periods in each of their past five home games.

What's next

Stars: At the Washington Capitals on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSWA, FS-SW, NHL.TV)
Maple Leafs: At the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, CBC, SN1, ATTSN-PT, NHL.TV)