Stars over Thrashers in 6-goal outburst
Trevor Daley scored twice on the power play for his first two-goal game in the NHL, Kari Lehtonen stopped 29 shots in his first appearance against his former team and the Dallas Stars beat the Atlanta Thrashers 6-1 on Saturday night.
Lehtonen, the No. 2 pick in the 2002 draft, played for the Thrashers from 2003 until he was traded to the Stars on Feb. 9, 2010.
James Neal also had a two-goal game for the Stars, who've won seven straight on the road, but are only 2-3-2 in their last seven at home.
Adam Burish and Jeff Woywitka added goals for Dallas.
Andrew Ladd scored for Atlanta, 0-3-1 in its last four.
The Thrashers were on the second half of back-to-back games, having lost to the Philadelphia Flyers 5-2 at home on Friday night. The Stars were coming off a three-day break.
Thrashers goalie Chris Mason left the game in the first period because of an undisclosed lower body injury. He was hit by teammate Chris Thorburn, who was sliding after blocking a shot.
Mason was replaced by Ondrej Pavelec at 7:48, and Pavelec allowed Daley's first power-play goal on the first shot he faced. Daley's long-distance attempt deflected off the stick of Atlanta's Zach Bogosian and into the net at 9:31.
Ladd tied it at 1-1 with his 16th goal of the season at 6:21 of the second period.
But Burish's deflection at 13:58 of the second put Dallas in front, and Daley added his second of the night from the right circle with 54.3 seconds left in the second.
Neal's tap-in of Loui Eriksson's cross-ice feed extended the Stars' lead to 4-1 at 11:09 of the final period.
Neal added his 18th on the power play at 16:54, and Woywitka also struck on the same four-minute power play to turn the game into a rout.
Players from both sides did some talking during pregame warmups, led by Dallas' Krys Barch and Atlanta's Eric Boulton.
Boulton took exception when Dallas' Mike Ribeiro crossed into Atlanta's side of the ice during the practice period. The teams milled around at center ice for a few minutes to exchange heated words and menacing gestures before resuming the warmup. No punches were thrown. The teams have little history, meeting for the only time this season and 13th ever.
Barch and Boulton had a brief fight midway through the first period, and Dallas' Brian Sutherby and Thorburn dropped the gloves halfway through the second.
NOTES: Dallas is 11-1-1 against Atlanta. ... The Stars had D Karis Skrastins back in the lineup after he missed three games, but D Matt Niskanen sat out his fourth straight game. The teammates collided while warming up before the third period of a win at Chicago. Skrastins sustained a broken nose, and Niskanen had a deep cut on his hand.
