Red wings win fourth straight in victory over Stars, 5-2

DETROIT (AP) -- Johan Franzen, Darren Helm and Brad Stuart scored in the third period, and the Detroit Red Wings went on to a 5-2 win over the Dallas Stars on Saturday night. With the game tied at 2, Valtteri Filppula drove to the net from the left. After his backhanded attempt, Franzen was on the opposite side to poke the puck across the goal line. Helm scored by redirecting a nice pass from Jiri Hudler with 10:41 remaining, and Stuart added another goal 73 seconds later. The Red Wings have won four straight, part of a streaky start to their season. They won their first five games before an 0-5-1 stretch preceded this run. Dallas has lost two in a row after an 11-3 start. Loui Eriksson and Brenden Morrow scored for the Stars. Niklas Kronwall and Ian White added goals for Detroit. The Red Wings outshot the Stars 40-27. Franzen's goal was his ninth of the season, and White went sprawling across the front of his net later in the third period in an effort to protect Detroit's one-goal lead. The puck appeared to hit White in the head during a scramble in front, but the Stars weren't able to tie it. Helm and Stuart soon added insurance goals. Detroit outshot Dallas 15-11 in a free-flowing first period. The Red Wings had good pressure on an early power play but couldn't convert, and the Stars opened the scoring on Eriksson's ninth of the season. The Dallas left wing came up with a rebound around the net and beat goalie Jimmy Howard from close range with 2 seconds remaining on a Detroit penalty. Kronwall tied it on a slap shot with 2:43 remaining in the period. White gave the Red Wings a 2-1 lead in the second with a slap shot that sailed through traffic and past the glove of Dallas goalie Andrew Raycroft. Detroit almost added another goal a few minutes later when Pavel Datsyuk led a 2-on-1 break. Datsyuk made a nice pass to Helm, but Helm missed the net from in front. Helm headed straight to the bench, slamming his stick against the glass in frustration on his way there. He would later score on a similar rush. Morrow tied it at 2 when the Red Wings gave him too much room to the left of the net, and he scored off a pass from Mike Ribeiro. NOTES: Dallas D Alex Goligoski, day-to-day with an undisclosed upper body injury, was scratched. ... Detroit D Nicklas Lidstrom's second-period assist gave him 1,122 points, one short of Darryl Sittler for 53rd on the NHL career list.