Stars fall to Canucks, fail to gain ground in wild card

DALLAS -- The Dallas Stars failed to gain ground in the Western Conference wild-card race, losing to the Vancouver Canucks 4-1 at American Airlines Center on Sunday.
Mattias Janmark scored, and Kari Lehtonen made 23 saves for the Stars (38-30-8), who have lost eight straight (0-6-2), their longest streak since they lost 10 in a row from Feb. 1-20, 1976, when the team was the Minnesota North Stars.

Dallas trails the St. Louis Blues by five points for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the West.
WATCH: [All Canucks vs. Stars highlights]
"I think we've got to look at the energy, we've got to look at everything," Stars coach Ken Hitchcock said.
Reid Boucher, Nic Dowd, Jake Virtanen and Tyler Motte scored, and Jacob Markstrom made 30 saves for the Canucks (27-40-9), who were eliminated from playoff contention on March 14.

Dowd scored a power-play goal at 14:43 of the second period to give the Canucks a 2-1 lead.
"I blinked," Canucks coach Travis Green said. "We were short a guy, and I think he jumped on the ice."
Virtanen extended the lead to 3-1 at 10:28 of the third period after his shot from along the right boards got past Lehtonen from a sharp angle.
Motte scored an empty-net goal at 19:19 to make it 4-1.

Janmark gave the Stars a 1-0 lead at 16:54 of the first period with a shorthanded goal on a breakaway.
Boucher tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal 30 seconds later, redirecting Jussi Jokinen's pass in the slot. Boucher has three goals this season, all of them coming against Dallas.
"We have six more games," Stars defenseman John Klingberg said. "If we play perfect, then maybe we have a chance [to make the playoffs]. It will be tough, but we have stay professional and try to do it."

Goal of the game

Dowd's goal at 14:43 of the second period.

Save of the game

Markstrom's save on Jamie Benn at 4:46 of the first period.

Highlight of the game

Janmark's goal at 16:54 of the first period.

They said it

"Alex [Biega] is a really good player. He talks a lot. Good guy to have back there. He was a bit of a calming presence for me, too." -- Canucks defenseman Ashton Sautner on his NHL debut
"We don't deserve to win right now. We were doing all the right things before games. Coaches give us all the information. We just don't execute." -- Stars defenseman John Klingberg
"When you're not winning in any line of work, when it comes to being an athlete, you're going to get that sometimes. It certainly isn't the first time I've heard it. They're entitled to do it if they want. They're the ones paying to come watch us play and we're not giving them a proper performance." -- Stars defenseman Marc Methot on being booed.

Need to know

Canucks forward Daniel Sedin played his 1,300th NHL game, joining his brother Henrik Sedin (1,324), Nicklas Lidstrom (1,564) and Mats Sundin (1,346) as the only Swedish players to reach the milestone. ... The Stars have scored two or fewer goals in nine of their past 11 games. … Stars forward Jason Spezza (back) won't return for at least a week.

What's next

Canucks:Host the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday (10:00 p.m. ET; SNP, FS-W, NHL.TV)
Stars:Host the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday (8:30 p.m. ET; FS-SW+, NBCSP, NHL.TV)