Stars Get Off to Best Start in Franchise History

There’s no stopping the unbeaten Dallas Stars.

Pat Verbeek scored the game-winning goal at 7:11 of the third period as the Stars beat the New Jersey Devils, 4-2, Saturday night at East Rutherford, N.J. It marked the first time in franchise history that the Stars opened a season with four consecutive victories.

“I think people looked at what we did last year and certainly this hockey team realizes we underachieved last season,” said Verbeek, who signed with Dallas as a free agent over the summer. “We’ve got a fresh start and the guys certainly wanted to come out and prove last year was a fluke.”

The franchise record for longest unbeaten streak to start a season is six (5-0-1) set in the 1982-83 and 1989-90 seasons.

Darryl Sydor, Grant Marshall and Brent Gilchrist also scored for Dallas and Arturs Irbe made 27 saves in his first appearance as a Star. After five seasons with San Jose, Irbe also signed with Dallas as a free agent.

Verbeek has been everything the Stars wanted. The veteran has already produced a pair of game-winning goals.

“That’s been a part of my job for a long time,” Verbeek said of the pressure to deliver clutch goals. “That’s just one of my responsibilities on this team.”

Florida 6, Hartford 0--John Vanbiesbrouck earned his 24th career shutout and the Panthers defeated the Whalers at Miami in a meeting of Eastern Conference unbeaten teams.

Newly-acquired defenseman Paul Coffey and forward Keith Primeau, who were traded from Detroit earlier in the week, made their Hartford debut, but could do little as Florida improved to 3-0-1.

Vanbiesbrouck stopped 21 shots to earn his eighth shutout as a Panther. Hartford (2-1-0) hasn’t won at Florida since March 4, 1994.

Detroit 6, Buffalo 1--Igor Larionov had a goal and two assists as the Red Wings beat the Sabres in the first regular-season game at the $127.5-million Marine Midland Arena in Buffalo, N.Y.

Larionov set up the first two goals and started a three-goal flurry in a 2:15 span of the third period as the Red Wings helped goalie Mike Vernon win in his first start.

Pittsburgh 3, Ottawa 2--Mario Lemieux scored a fluke goal midway through the third period to lead the Penguins to their first victory in four games this season, at Pittsburgh.

Lemieux’s centering pass went off the skate of Ottawa’s Alexei Yashin and veered past goalie Ron Tugnutt. The goal was Lemieux’s fourth and helped Pittsburgh avoid tying the 1983-84 club record for most losses to start a season.

N.Y. Islanders 5, Philadelphia 1--Marty McInnis and Derek King each scored twice and Eric Fichaud stopped 29 shots as the Islanders won their home opener at Uniondale, N.Y.

Fichaud missed getting his second career NHL shutout when Trent Klatt scored a disputed goal with 30.9 seconds left in the game.

Montreal 5, N.Y. Rangers 2--Valeri Bure scored twice in a four-goal outburst during the second period as the unbeaten Canadiens overwhelmed the winless Rangers at Montreal.

Benoit Brunet, Bure and Vincent Damphousse scored in a 2:36 span of the middle period, and Bure had another before it ended as the Canadiens went to 2-0-2.

Boston 5, San Jose 3--Ray Bourque assisted on two of three third-period goals as the Bruins rallied from a three-goal deficit to win at San Jose.

Bourque, the club’s all-time leader with 972 assists, posted his first two points of the season and needs 25 to overtake Johnny Bucyk as Boston’s all-time leader.

Vancouver 5, St Louis 3--Mike Sillinger’s goal with 4:35 left in the second period broke a tie and Martin Gelinas had two goals and an assist as the Canucks won at Vancouver.

Tampa Bay 7, Toronto 4--Chris Gratton scored three goals as the Lightning beat the Maple Leafs at Toronto.