Markstrom makes 44 saves, Canucks defeat Stars in shootout

Jacob Markstrom made 44 saves, and four more in the shootout, and the Vancouver Canucks denied the Dallas Stars a second point with a 3-2 shootout win at American Airlines Center on Sunday.

Jamie Benn and Taylor Fedun scored for Dallas (37-29-6), which moved two points ahead of the Arizona Coyotes for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. Anton Khudobin made 25 saves.
"Luckily, we got the point," Khudobin said. "At least we're climbing the standings. Every game is going to be really tough right now. Some of the teams we're going to play, they're going to play probably loose hockey or whatever.
WATCH: [All Canucks vs. Stars highlights]
"I've been on that side, and it's always kind of more luck I would say because you're playing more loose. But at the same time, there is no excuse and you've got to go and win the game."
Tim Schaller scored two goals for Vancouver (30-32-10), which trails Arizona by 10 points. The Canucks are 3-4-2 in their past nine games.

"That was awesome," Schaller said. "It's not been all roses for me this year, but I've been working hard, so I definitely deserved that."
Fedun tied it 2-2 at 16:10 of the third period. He took a slap shot from the top of the left circle that got through traffic for his fourth goal.
Schaller gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead 52 seconds into the first period on a wrist shot from the corner. He stole the puck from Stars forward Radek Faksa and beat Khudobin for his first goal.
"I was actually trying to find, I think it was [Canucks defenseman Troy Stetcher] coming on the back side," Schaller said. "The [defense] took him away, so I was like, 'I'll just put it on net,' and it snuck in."
Schaller scored again at 10:53 of the first period on a shot from the left face-off circle. Elias Pettersson made a pass from the corner, and Schaller one-timed the shot to make it 2-0.

With 60 points, Pettersson tied Ivan Hlinka and Pavel Bure for the most by a rookie in Canucks history.
"Of course, I'm very proud of that," Pettersson said. "Was it Bure I tied? Yeah, he was a pretty good player, so I'm really proud of that."
Benn made it 2-1 at 19:38 of the second period on a wrist shot from the right circle. Valeri Nichushkin entered the zone and passed it to Benn on the rush, who scored his 26th goal.

"They've all been grinding games here, especially in the last month, and I think we have learned," Stars coach Jim Montgomery said. "I think we're pretty resilient. You give up a goal on the first shift, and we just keep playing. That's kind of the mentality we've had."
The Canucks had a chance to win in overtime but failed to score on a power play after Benn tripped Pettersson at 1:03.
Josh Leivo won it for Vancouver in the fourth round of the shootout; it was Dallas' first shootout of the season.

They said it

"These are the type of games you like to play. It's tougher, it means more. A lot of teams are fighting for every point they can get, and of course these are the type of games I like to play." -- Canucks forward Elias Pettersson
"I think every point is a good point. I thought overall, we played a good hockey game; the intensity in the first five minutes wasn't there, but we found it. We generated numerous opportunities to win that game and just weren't able to finish. Loved our effort; a lot of our execution was really good, made a lot of plays. That's a big kill in the overtime, so a lot of good things. Just wish we had two points." -- Stars coach Jim Montgomery

Need to know

Canucks forward Brock Boeser has seven points (two goals, five assists) in a six-game point streak. … Stars goalie Ben Bishop was out for a second straight game because of a lower-body injury. Forward Blake Comeau did not play because of an undisclosed injury.

What's next

Canucks: At the Chicago Blackhawks on Monday (8:30 p.m. ET; NHLN, SN, NBCSCH, NHL.TV)
Stars: Host the Florida Panthers on Tuesday (8:30 p.m. ET; FS-F, FS-SW, NHL.TV)