Stars Recover in Time to Win

Jamie Langenbrunner bailed out the Dallas Stars with a goal when they needed it most.

The Stars recovered from a shell-shocked second period as Langenbrunner’s goal broke a 3-3 tie with 17:08 remaining for a 4-3 victory Friday over the Florida Panthers at Dallas.

Florida rallied late in the second period for three goals over a span of 1:42, the fastest three goals in team history, after Dallas had built a 3-0 first-period lead.

But the Stars took the initiative early in the final period. Langenbrunner skated up the right side and fired a blast from the circle through the pads of Florida goaltender Mikhail Shtalenkov for his sixth goal.

“In the second period we sat around and made it hard on ourselves,” said Langenbrunner. “But between periods we had a chance to regroup and get our focus back. We rallied around our leaders and got back to our kind of game.”

Dallas is 6-1-0 in its last seven games. Before Friday, Florida was 9-3-0 in its previous 12.

San Jose 4, Atlanta 1--Patrick Marleau had a goal and an assist, and Alexander Korolyuk added two assists to lead the Sharks at San Jose.

The victory lifted the Sharks into first place in the Pacific Division, a point ahead of Phoenix, and into a tie with Detroit for the most points (40) in the NHL.

Buffalo 2, Chicago 1--Miroslav Satan broke one of Buffalo’s longest scoring droughts early in the third period and rookie Maxim Afinogenov added the game-winner at Buffalo, N.Y.

Afinogenov collected a cross-ice pass from Dixon Ward, eluded Blackhawk defenseman Doug Zmolek and one-timed the puck past goaltender Steve Passmore at 8:04.

Satan broke one of Buffalo’s longest scoreless streaks in team history with his goal 34 seconds into the third.

The goal ended the Sabres’ drought at 162 minutes, 29 seconds. Buffalo’s longest scoreless streak was 183 minutes, 54 seconds and started with the expansion team’s first game Oct. 10, 1970, lasting until Oct. 17.

St. Louis 4, Nashville 2--Pierre Turgeon had an assist and scored the go-ahead goal in a three-minute span of the second period at Nashville, Tenn.

Scott Young added two goals and Chris Pronger had two assists for the Blues.

Calgary 3, Vancouver 2--Valeri Bure scored a power-play goal early in the third period to give the Flames a win at Calgary.

Andrei Nazarov’s close-in shot was stopped by goalie Garth Snow, but the rebound bounced out to Bure in the high slot and he one-timed it into the net at 1:09 of the third.

Tampa Bay 3, Carolina 2--Chris Gratton and Stan Drulia each had a goal and assist at Tampa, Fla., as the Lightning ended a 10-game winless streak against Carolina.

Dan Cloutier made 28 saves for the Lightning, which had not beaten the Hurricanes since the 1997 season opener at the Ice Palace.