#LGRW Final: Red Wings fall to Stars for second consecutive night, 5-2

DETROIT -- When an NHL team goes through a tough stretch, it needs timely goals, sound defense and inspired goaltending to overcome adversity.

Unfortunately for the Detroit Red Wings, untimely defensive lapses led to three first-period goals for the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night en route to a 5-2 loss at American Airlines Center and the third straight defeat for Detroit.
New Red Wings forward Jakub Vrana earned his second point in three games with Detroit, Valtteri Filppula scored his fifth goal of the season and captain Dylan Larkin broke a four-game goalless streak, but the Wings' comeback was too late as the Stars mounted a 4-0 lead in the opening 24 minutes and never looked back.

With the loss, the Red Wings fell to 16-25-7 while the Stars improved to 19-14-12 with the victory, sitting just one point shy of the fourth-seeded Nashville Predators in the Central Division playoff race.
Stars forward Tanner Kero opened the scoring just 2:55 into the game when he took a pass from Jamie Benn on the doorstep and beat Red Wings goalie Jonathan Bernier glove-side. Benn corralled a bouncing puck and found Kero for a one-time shot to give Dallas an early 1-0 lead.
Just 2:12 later, Dallas extended its lead when Jason Richardson found an open Jason Robertson from behind the net and the Stars rookie deposited a one-timer into the back of the net to make it a 2-0 game at 5:07 of the first period.

The Stars put an exclamation point on the opening frame with a tic-tac-toe passing play from Dickinson and Robertson who found Joe Pavelski open in front of the net, and the 15-year NHL veteran tapped the puck into the open net at 14:17 of the first to extend Dallas' lead to 3-0.
Bernier's night was done 3:36 into the second period when Stars forward Denis Gurianov gained the zone and threw a perfect back-handed pass to an open Jamie Oleksiak who one-timed a shot that Bernier didn't have much of a chance on to make it a 4-0 game.
Thomas Greiss came in to relieve Bernier after Oleksiak's goal.
The Red Wings didn't give up, though, and Filppula got Detroit on the board at 4:51 of the second period after taking a pass from Vrana on an odd-man rush to beat Stars rookie goalie Jake Oettinger and cut Dallas' lead to 4-1.

Larkin's frustrations boiled over at the end of the second when he was cross-checked into the boards by Stars defenseman Esa Lindell. Larkin took exception to the hit and immediately dropped the gloves, taking Lindell to the ice as the horn sounded, and both players were assessed five-minute majors for fighting to start the third period.
With an extra attacker at 16:13 of the third, the Red Wings' captain relieved a bit of frustration when he fired a shot from the left slot that beat Oettinger to make it a 4-2 game, but Blake Comeau earned an empty-net goal with 53 seconds remaining to put the game on ice.
Greiss made 11 saves and didn't allow a goal in nearly 24 minutes of action, but the Wings' comeback fell short for the second straight night as Detroit dropped its fifth game in six contests against Dallas this season.
The Red Wings hope to flip the script on the Stars as the four-game home-and-home series shifts to Little Caesars Arena to wrap up the clubs' season series on Thursday and Saturday.
Puck drop for Thursday's matchup is set for 7:30 p.m. with the TV broadcast on Bally Sports Detroit.