Four-goal second period propels Canucks past Stars

Filip Chytil, Brock Boeser and Max Sasson scored in a span of 3:26 during Vancouver's four-goal second period, and the visiting Canucks rallied for a 5-3 victory over the Dallas Stars on Thursday night.

Vancouver trailed 2-0 after one period, but broke out in the second to hand Dallas its first loss in four games this season. Conor Garland capped the second-period scoring and assisted on Quinn Hughes' empty-netter to help the Canucks avoid a third straight defeat in the opener of a five-game trip.

Mavrick Bourque, Mikko Rantanen and Wyatt Johnston each scored for the Stars. Dallas' Jason Robertson recorded two assists for his 400th career point.

Dallas opened the scoring just 4:29 into the contest, thanks to some good fortune. Bourque sent the puck into the slot, where it glanced off the stick of Vancouver's Elias Pettersson and in.

The Stars added on with 38 seconds remaining in the first. On the power play a Dallas push ended with Rantanen snapping a shot past Vancouver's Thatcher Demko (28 saves).

Vancouver nearly got on the board less than five minutes into the second period. However, the puck, off Drew O'Connor's attempt, hugged the back end of the goal line and was cleared away by Dallas defenseman Miro Heiskanen.

The Canucks did break through with 13:20 left in the middle frame, and just after killing a Stars penalty, Vancouver's Evander Kane floated the puck from his own zone and near the opposite blue line and on to the stick of Chytil, who broke free and beat Dallas' Casey DeSmith (21 saves).

A little more than two minutes later, the Canucks tied it when Boeser deflected in Hughes' shot on the power play. Vancouver took the lead just over a minute after that, as Sasson got behind the Stars defense to convert with 9:54 left in the second.

The Canucks ended that second-period barrage with 66 seconds remaining, as Garland grabbed the puck off a Stars' own-zone turnover and beat a late-reacting DeSmith on the backhand.

Veteran star Matt Duchene was out of the lineup with an upper-body injury.

--Field Level Media