Thatcher Demko returned to the lineup after a three-month injury absence and stopped 34 shots for the win as the visiting Vancouver Canucks edged the Dallas Stars 5-4 in overtime on Monday night.
The California native made his first start since Dec. 1, when he stopped 15 of 18 shots against the Florida Panthers before having to leave with a groin injury.
Andrei Kuzmenko scored the winner 48 seconds into the overtime on Monday for the Canucks, who are 3-1-1 in their past five games. The winning tally stood up after a five-minute video review to see if Vancouver was offside on the play.
Anthony Beauvillier scored two goals and assisted on the winner, Kuzmenko had a goal and two assists, and Vasily Podkolzin and Sheldon Dries each scored a goal for the Canucks. Quinn Hughes chipped in three assists.
Jamie Benn contributed a goal and an assist while Evgenii Dadonov, Nils Lundkvist and Roope Hintz also scored for Dallas, which fell to 1-3-3 in its past seven games. Jake Oettinger stopped 16 shots.
The Stars tied it 4-4 early in the third period when defenseman Lundkvist took a wrist shot that deflected off a Canucks defender and sailed into the upper half of the net.
Beauvillier opened the scoring just 3:27 into the first period, shooting from a sharp angle and beating Oettinger for his 14th goal.
The teams traded goals just 23 seconds apart during a Canucks power play halfway through the first period. Benn scored while killing the penalty to tie it 1-1, and the Canucks answered on the man advantage with a Dries tip-in goal at 9:00.
Hughes then set up Podkolzin, who made it 3-1 with his second goal of the season at 15:03 of the first.
Making his Dallas debut after being acquired in a trade on Sunday, Dadonov scored at 4:33 of the second to make it 3-2.
Beauvillier notched his second of the game at 11:28 of the second to restore the Canucks’ two-goal lead.
Hintz fired a snap shot through Demko’s legs on a power play to make it 4-3 with just over two minutes left in the second.
–Field Level Media
