Lehtinen Helps Move Stars Closer to Sharks

The Dallas Stars moved two points closer in their season-long pursuit of the San Jose Sharks.

Jere Lehtinen scored the tiebreaking goal with 2:49 left to send the Stars to a 3-1 victory over the Sharks Friday night at Dallas.

The win moved Dallas to within four points of first-place San Jose in the Pacific Division. The Stars have won the Pacific title in four of the past five seasons.

“Our team is feeling very good about themselves,” Star Coach Dave Tippett said. “We have the mentality that something good is going to happen. Our guys are finding ways to win. Every point is huge when you’re playing the team in front of you, when you’re chasing your division. We’ve closed to four points and we’re in the hunt.”

The Stars, unbeaten in their last five games (4-0-1) and 12-4-5 in their last 21, are five games over .500 (25-20-9) for the first time this season. They also are 12-4-2 in their last 18 games against San Jose.

Toronto 4, Atlanta 1 -- Trevor Kidd made 25 saves in a rare start, helping the Maple Leafs beat the Thrashers at Atlanta.

Injury-plagued Atlanta was bolstered by the return of Marc Savard, who scored his team’s lone goal after sitting out seven games because of a sprained knee. Dany Heatley played his second game for the Thrashers since recovering injuries received in a car wreck that killed teammate Dan Snyder, but wasn’t a factor.

The Thrashers have only two wins in 16 games.

Kidd was making just his seventh start of the season in place of Ed Belfour, and first since Jan. 8. He improve to 4-1-1.

Buffalo 3, New York Rangers 1 -- Daniel Briere and Chris Drury each scored a power-play goal, and Martin Biron made 33 saves at Madison Square Garden to help the Sabres win for the fourth time in five games and pull within five points of the New York Islanders for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Chicago 5, Calgary 3 -- The Blackhawks ended their road losing streak at 19 games behind two goals from Tuomo Ruutu. The streak was the longest in franchise history and the fourth-longest in NHL history.

The Blackhawks hadn’t won on the road since beating Nashville, 2-1, on Nov. 7. They had only one road point since then, losing 3-2 in overtime against Vancouver on Nov. 20.

With Chicago trailing, 3-1, in the second period, Ruutu started the comeback by scoring his second goal of the night. Tyler Arnason, Steve Sullivan and Mark Bell also scored for the Blackhawks, who won for only the second time in nine games.

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Nashville defenseman Jamie Allison was suspended for one game without pay by the NHL, one day after arguing with a fan after receiving a 10-minute misconduct penalty during the Predators’ 6-4 victory at Columbus. The Predators were also fined $10,000. Two fans were ejected for harassing him. There was no physical contact between the fans and Allison, who will sit out tonight’s game against San Jose.... Washington defenseman Jason Doig was suspended for two games without pay by the NHL for kneeing Carolina center Kevyn Adams during the first period of Thursday night’s 5-3 victory over the Hurricanes at Raleigh. Adams’ left knee was injured on the play. Doig, who will sit out tonight’s game against Vancouver and Tuesday’s game against Tampa Bay, was assessed a minor penalty.