Benn, Seguin, Stankoven score in 2nd period, Stars beat Coyotes

DALLAS (AP) — Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin and Logan Stankoven scored in the second period to help the Dallas Stars beat the Arizona Coyotes 5-2 on Wednesday night.

The Stars extended their home points streak against the Coyotes to 19 games at 18-0-1. They last lost at home to the then-Phoenix Coyotes in regulation on Feb. 7, 2012.

Jason Robertson had a goal and an assist, Craig Smith also scored, Nils Lundqvist had two assists and Jake Oettinger made 23 saves.

Dallas, Winnipeg and Colorado all have 93 points atop the Central Division. The Jets have played 68 games, the Avalanche 69 and the Stars 70.

“There’s not going to be any easy opponent in the first round regardless of where you finish,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said. “It’s important that the details in our game are in a good place.”

Clayton Keller and John Leonard scored for Arizona, and Connor Ingram stopped 28 shots. The Coyotes are 18 points behind the Western Conference’s final playoff position with 13 games to play.

“There’s a reason why they’re a Stanley Cup contender,” Coyotes coach Andre Tourigny said. “They had a lot of scoring chances around the net. They won their battles inside.”

Stankoven poked in the puck while skating six-on-five during a delayed penalty to tie it at 1 at 7:34 of the second period. Stankoven, called up in late February when Seguin was sidelined by a lower-body injury, has six goals and 10 points in 12 games.

Benn – playing his 1,100th NHL game, all with Dallas — scored at the back door with 8:06 left int he period. Thirty seconds later, Seguin scored in his first game back after missing 11 over the past month.

“Around the first period at the end I didn’t know if I was going to finish the game,” Seguin said. “But I felt better as the game went on for sure.”

Robertson and Smith scored early in the third period. Smith has a season-best three-game goals streak.

Keller gave Arizona a 1-0 lead with 14.7 seconds left in the opening period on a shot from the right faceoff circle following a defensive-zone turnover by Dallas. Leonard, a recent callup, scored his first NHL goal of the season in his fourth game at 8:50 of the third.

Keller, a college teammate of Oettinger’s at Boston University in 2016-17, leads Arizona with 28 goals and 60 points. He has scored in three straight games.

Dallas’ 19-game home points streak against Arizona is the second-longest active streak against one opponent in the league. The Boston Bruins have a 20-game streak (16-0-4) at TD Garden against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Linesman Brad Kovachik left in the second period with an apparent leg injury after getting caught under two players, one from each team, when they fell along the boards.

The teams will meet again on Sunday at Arizona.

UP NEXT

Coyotes: Host Seattle on Friday night to open a seven-game homestand.

Stars: Host Pittsburgh on Friday night to close a five-game homestand.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl