5 things to know: Stars rally late, fall to Canucks in shootout

The Dallas Stars rallied from a 2-0 deficit to force overtime and get one point Sunday night, but they couldn't get two as they fell, 3-2, in a shootout to the Vancouver Canucks at American Airlines Center.
Vancouver netminder Jacob Markstrom stopped 44 shots in regulation and overtime and then turned away all four Dallas attempts in the shootout.
Jamie Benn and Taylor Fedun scored goals and Anton Khudobin made 25 saves for the Stars, who are 37-29-6 (80 points) on the season and in the first-wild card spot in the Western Conference.
Here are five things from Sunday's game.

1. Stars shake off slow start to get a point

The Stars didn't get off to the start they wanted Sunday, falling behind in the first minute and then finding themselves down 2-0 midway through the first period. But they did battle back to tie and force overtime to get at least one point out of the game.
"I think every point is a good point," said Stars coach Jim Montgomery. "I thought overall we played a good hockey game. Intensity in the first five minutes wasn't there, but we found it. We generated numerous opportunities to win that game. We just weren't able to finish.
"Loved our effort, a lot of our execution was good, made a lot of plays. A lot of good things; just wish we had two points."
For a second straight game the Stars gave up a goal in the first minute of the contest. On Sunday, Vancouver's Tim Schaller circled out from behind the Dallas net and beat goaltender Anton Khudobin short side at the 52-second mark.
The Stars had some chances to tie, especially on a power play in the first. Jamie Benn hit a post and Canucks goaltender Jacob Markstrom made a big save on Joel L'Esperance. A little more than two minutes later, the Canucks had a 2-0 lead. The Canucks forced a turnover in the corner, and Elias Pettersson set up Schaller, who scored from the left circle to make it a 2-0 game at 10:58 of the first.
The Canucks had a great chance to extend the lead early in the second when Pettersson was awarded a penalty shot after being held by Stars defenseman John Klingberg on a breakaway, but Khudobin denied Pettersson on the penalty shot to keep it a 2-0 game.
The Stars finally were able to break through on Khudobin late in the first when Valeri Nichushkin set up Benn who scored on the rush with 21.4 seconds left in the second to cut the Vancouver lead to 2-1.
And then came the equalizer late in the third on a Taylor Fedun shot from the point that found its way through traffic and past Markstrom and it was onto overtime, where Khudobin and the Stars penalty kill thwarted a Vancouver power play, and then the shootout where Vancouver's Josh Leivo scored the only goal.
"Happy we could at least get one point, but no one's really happy with getting one point," said Stars center Tyler Seguin. "Tonight should have been a game that - it's those games where you're supposed to win, but you've got to still come out with the proper effort and execution.
"We had a lot of looks tonight, but we didn't execute great."

2. Stars go to shootout for first time this season

Heading into Sunday the Dallas Stars and Toronto Maple Leafs were the only NHL teams that hadn't gone to a shootout this season. Now, it's just the Maple Leafs after the Stars went to their first against the Canucks on Sunday.
"Obviously a little weird, the first one," Seguin said.
Three-on-three overtime was designed to reduce the number of shootouts. It's worked, and Seguin is not complaining.
"Personally, I'd like to go three-on-three until someone scores," Seguin said. "I've never loved the shootout. I've loved three-on-three. That's how it is right now. It was a good overtime. It was a good (penalty) kill."
The overtime was good. The two teams combined for eight shots on goal and Khudobin and the Dallas penalty kill came up huge, killing off a four-on-three Vancouver power play. Then it was onto the shootout, which was the first shootout for Montgomery, who went with Seguin, Alexander Radulov, Benn, and Roope Hintz as his shooters. All were stopped by Canucks goalie Jacob Markstrom.
"Typically, you look at the history," Montgomery said. "[Seguin] and [Radulov] have the best percentage, so they're going to go. I also go with the hot hand. Benn had scored, so he's going to go, Roope's been hot, so he's going to go. That was the thinking."
Khudobin stopped Pettersson, Brock Boeser, and Tanner Pearson before Josh Leivo tallied on a wrist shot to give the Canucks the two points.
The Stars are 6-6 in games that have gone beyond regulation this season. They are 6-5 in the 3-on-3 overtime and now 0-1 in the shootout.

3. Khudobin faces Pettersson on penalty shot

For the second straight game, Khudobin had to face a penalty shot. He stopped Vegas forward William Karlsson on Friday night. On Sunday, he went head-to-head with Canucks rookie sensation Elias Pettersson.
It was a big moment in the game. Pettersson had a chance to extend the Vancouver lead to 3-0 early in the second period. Khudobin stopped Pettersson with a poke check, but as Khudobin made the save his stick came out of his hand. The question was, did he throw the stick? If he did, the rule book says it should be a goal.
It was a save, and it stayed a 2-0 game.
The Canucks didn't agree.
"He did throw it," said Canucks coach Travis Green.
Was Green given an explanation?
"No," he said.
The Stars saw it a different way.
"No, I wasn't (worried)," Montgomery said. "When I watched it live, Stu (Barnes, assistant coach) said something about it, but it didn't look like there was any intent. It looked like he lost it at the last second."
As for Khudobin, he was asked if he thought he threw his stick.
"What the referee said," Khudobin said.

4. Nichushkin does everything but score a goal

Nichushkin played one of his better games of the season Sunday night. He recorded an assist, had four shots on goal, five shot attempts, four scoring chances including one high-danger chance and he drew two penalties.
"I thought Val was excellent," said Montgomery.
The only thing Nichushkin didn't do was score a goal. The assist Sunday night was his eighth of the season, but he has still not scored a goal in 51 games.
"Yeah he is real close," Montgomery said. "He keeps putting himself in the blue paint and close to the net with those opportunities and with his big body. He's going to score."

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5. Stars remain in first wild-card spot

It was kind of status quo for the Stars in the playoff race Sunday. The Stars remained in the first wild-card spot and kept pace with some of the teams around them by picking up the one point.
St. Louis lost in a shootout at Buffalo, so the Stars remain two points behind the Blues in the race for third place in the Central Division.
Minnesota lost in overtime at the New York Islanders, so the Stars remain three points up on the Wild, who are in third place in the wild-card race (ninth place in the West).
The Stars moved two points ahead of idle Arizona, which is in the second wild-card spot.
On the injury front, Blake Comeau did not play Sunday due to a lower-body injury. He is day to day, according Montgomery. There was no update on goaltender Ben Bishop, who missed a second straight game with a lower-body injury. Bishop, who skated this morning, is also day to day.
The Stars outshot the Canucks 46-25 and had an 87-58 advantage in shot attempts. ... Naturalstattrick.com had the scoring chances as 35-18 Dallas. ... High-danger chances were 11-6, Dallas. ... Seguin led the Stars with seven shots on goal and 10 shot attempts. Radulov and Joel L'Esperance both had three high-danger chances. ... The Stars were 0-for-2 on the power play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill. ... The Stars won 33 of 71 faceoffs (46 percent). ... Radek Faksa won 8 of 14 draws (57 percent). Hintz won 7 of 12 (58 percent). Seguin won 9 of 14 (39 percent). ... Miro Heiskanen led the Stars with 28:29 of ice time.
Here's the lineup the Stars used to start Sunday's game along with scratches and injuries.
Roope Hintz - Tyler Seguin - Alexander Radulov
Jamie Benn - Jason Dickinson - Joel L'Esperance
Andrew Cogliano - Radek Faksa - Valeri Nichushkin
Mattias Janmark - Jason Spezza - Brett Ritchie
Esa Lindell - John Klingberg
Miro Heiskanen - Roman Polak
Taylor Fedun - Ben Lovejoy
Anton Khudobin
Landon Bow
Scratched:Jamie Oleksiak, Julius Honka
Injured: Blake Comeau (lower body), Ben Bishop (lower body), Mats Zuccarello (broken arm), Tyler Pitlick (wrist surgery), Martin Hanzal (back), Marc Methot (knee surgery), Stephen Johns (post-traumatic headaches)

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mark Stepneski has covered the Stars for DallasStars.com since 2012. Follow him on Twitter @StarsInsideEdge.