Dallas Stars right wing Erik Cole (72) attacks Colorado Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov (1), of Russia, who makes the save, during the second period of an NHL hockey game on Wednesday, March 20, 2013, in Denver. AP
DALLAS — Jamie Benn, Ray Whitney and Cody Eakin each had a goal and an assist to help lead the Dallas Stars to a 5-3 victory to end the Minnesota Wild’s seven-game winning streak on Friday.
Erik Cole and Tomas Vincour also scored for Dallas, which moved within one point of the Western Conference’s final playoff spot. Jaromir Jagr also earned his 1,000th career NHL assist.
After a 7-4 loss to Minnesota at home on Monday, the Stars had three days off to regroup and rebounded with a strong effort, scoring twice on power plays in the third period.
Kari Lehtonen, who gave up six goals on 41 shots Monday, made 30 saves for the win.
Devin Setoguchi, Jared Spurgeon and Torrey Mitchell scored for Minnesota, which also had its five-game road winning streak end.
LIGHTNING 5, DEVILS 4, SO
TAMPA, Florida — Alex Killorn scored with 15.1 seconds left in the third period and Tampa Bay won in a shootout over New Jersey to give new Lightning coach Jon Cooper a victory in his NHL debut.
The Lightning pulled even at 4 when Killorn scored from the right circle. Teddy Purcell and Victor Hedman scored for Tampa Bay in the shootout.
Cooper was hired as the eighth coach in Lightning history Monday, one day after the team announced the firing of Guy Boucher. Cooper had been coaching Syracuse of the AHL, Tampa Bay’s top minor league team.
Steven Stamkos scored his 24th and 25th goals this season and added an assist for the Lightning. Nate Thompson had the other Tampa Bay goal.
The Devils got goals from Andrei Loktionov, Tom Kostopoulos, Andy Greene and Ryan Carter.
BLUE JACKETS 6, FLAMES 4
CALGARY, Alberta — Vinny Prospal had the go-ahead goal and an assist in a four-goal second period to help Columbus beat Calgary in the Flames’ first game since they traded longtime captain Jarome Iginla to Pittsburgh.
Mark Letestu, Matt Calvert, Derick Brasard, Ryan Johansen and R.J. Umberger also scored for the Blue Jackets. Columbus, 1-2-1 on its four-game trip, climbed within a point of St. Louis for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. The Blue Jackets also evened their record at 14-14-7 and snapped Calgary’s eight-game home winning streak.
Brian McGrattan, Mikael Backlund, Dennis Wideman and Curtis Glencross scored for Calgary.
Iginla was traded to Pittsburgh on Wednesday night for a 2013 first-round draft pick and college prospects Ben Hanowski and Kenneth Agostino. Many of the fans in the crowd, announced as a sellout of 19,289, wore red jerseys with Iginla’s name on the back.
The appreciative fans then stood up and gave a standing ovation in the first period when a stirring video tribute to Iginla was played on the Jumbotron. While the fans rose to their feet, officials didn’t immediately drop the puck as all Calgary players banged their sticks against the boards.
DUCKS 2, BLACKHAWKS 1
CHICAGO — Sheldon Souray scored with 2:08 left in regulation to break a tie, Jonas Hiller made 25 saves and Anaheim defeated Chicago to end a four-game losing streak.
Souray’s drive through a screen from the left point hit the stick of Chicago defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson and deflected past Ray Emery, who suffered his first loss of the season.
Anaheim’s Corey Perry scored at 1:15 of the second period in the meeting of the top two teams in the Western Conference, played before a season-high of 22,105 at the United Center.
With the win, Anaheim (23-7-4) improved to 50 points, three behind conference-leading Chicago (25-5-3).
Chicago’s Patrick Kane scored a power-play goal at 2:26 of the third period to extend his point streak to eight games. He has six goals and nine assists during the span.