Benn, Spezza power Stars past Flames

DALLAS --Jamie Benn and Jason Spezza each scored to help the Dallas Stars to a 2-1 win against the Calgary Flames at American Airlines Center on Monday in their final game before the NHL All-Star break.
Goalie Antti Niemi made 23 saves, and Benn and Spezza scored 1:20 apart in the second period for Dallas (31-14-5), which went 3-6-2 in January and will not play again until Feb. 2 at the Winnipeg Jets.

"It was a grind, but we got the job done," Benn said. "Things were going pretty good there until probably about halfway through the second. A couple turnovers and three straight penalties, and gave them momentum. They kind of rode that into the third, and [Niemi] made some big saves."
Spezza and the Stars capitalized on a Flames turnover inside their own zone at 4:03 of the second to build a 2-0 lead. Center Mikael Backlund attempted to clear the puck from behind the Calgary net, but it was kept in by Dallas defenseman John Klingberg, who spotted Spezza alone at the far post for an easy tap-in.
"It wasn't a good month for us," Spezza said. "We just got away from things for a little bit. Breaks can be helpful. It can be tough coming out of breaks, but the schedule in February and March is pretty much just games, and we're not going to have a lot of practice time. So you use these days and learn to take the rest and keep yourself active, but make sure you're getting rest."
Joe Colborne scored for the Flames (21-23-3), who lost for the third time in the past four games. Calgary had won three in a row against Dallas.
"They were the better team," Flames coach Bob Hartley said. "They got off to a great start and they applied lots of pressure on us. They got those two goals, but then we got back, we had some great looks on the power play. I was real happy with the way that we moved the puck around. Unfortunately, we couldn't get a big goal on the power play, but then we got that early goal in the third period that seems to give us good push, but Niemi made some big saves, and it's too bad."
Benn scored his 28th goal, tying him with Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin for second in the NHL, after outmaneuvering Flames goaltender Karri Ramo at 2:43 of the second period.
Benn received a backhand pass from Valeri Nichushkin in the slot, and after Kris Russell fell to the ice in a blocked shot attempt, Benn flicked a backhand inside the near post just out of Ramo's reach.
"I thought [Benn] skated well, physically won some battles," Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. "Real good play by [Nichushkin] to get [Benn] the puck in the middle of the ice [to] score a great goal, and his legs were moving again. He seemed a different player for me tonight."
Colborne cut the Stars lead in half by roofing a wrist shot to the far post after a backhand pass by Jiri Hudler from behind the Dallas net 1:49 into the third period.
"[Colborne] is very good around the net. He has a big body, uses his body well to gain inside position on defenders. It was a great play," Hartley said. "I felt that [Colborne], [Granlund] and [Hudler] had a real strong third period. They controlled the play a lot. We had great zone time with those three, so real happy about their work."
Eighteen seconds after he finished serving a tripping penalty, Michael Frolik took advantage of a Klingberg turnover at the Calgary blue line to go in on a breakaway, but Niemi denied his wrist shot with a pad save at 3:02 of the first period.
"[Niemi] was awesome. He's the reason why we win tonight," Stars defenseman Alex Goligoski said.
Ramo made 10 of his 28 saves in the scoreless first period.
Calgary had a 6-on-4 advantage for the final 9.4 seconds after Dallas forward Cody Eakin was called for hooking.
The Flames host the Nashville Predators on Wednesday before beginning their All-Star break.
"We got to start from the get go next game," Calgary captain Mark Giordano said. "We have one more before the break that we have to have and then we'll get some rest and go from there."