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Oilers downed by shining Stars

EDMONTON _ Kari Lehtonen made 35 saves as the Dallas Stars extended their winning streak to four games with a 4-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday.Jaromir Jagr, Ryan Garbutt, Brenden Dillon and Eric Nystrom scored for the Stars (7-5-1), who have won five of their last six.
Cody Eakin, Devan Dubnyk.
Dallas Stars' Cody Eakin (20) is stopped by Edmonton Oilers goalie Devan Dubnyk during first period NHL hockey action in Edmonton

EDMONTON _ Kari Lehtonen made 35 saves as the Dallas Stars extended their winning streak to four games with a 4-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday.

Jaromir Jagr, Ryan Garbutt, Brenden Dillon and Eric Nystrom scored for the Stars (7-5-1), who have won five of their last six.

Taylor Hall replied for the Oilers (5-5-3), who have lost six of their last seven.

Dallas had the best chance in the early running as Cody Eakin had a partial breakaway but was stopped by a nice pad save from Oilers starter Devan Dubnyk.

Dubnyk finished with 25 saves.

Edmonton got on the board first with seven minutes to play in the first period as Hall unleashed a deceptive off-stride wrist shot from the top of the circle that beat Stars goaltender Kari Lehtonen to the glove side.

The Stars tied the game on a fluke of a goal four minutes into the second period as a shot by Dillon caromed off the glass behind the net and hit Dubnyk in the back and bounced into the net.

Both teams had some very good scoring chances in the second, the best one coming at the end when Jordan Eberle made a nice deke on the power play that Lehtonen was barely able to deflect with his toe.

The shots after 40 minutes favoured the Oilers 27-18.

Dallas got another gift goal just 44 seconds into the third period as a long shot by Nystrom hit an Edmonton stick on its way to the net and handcuffed Dubnyk to make it 2-1 for the Stars.

The Oilers had another good chance to score with six minutes to play on a power play but Lehtonen was once again there to rob Ryan Nugent-Hopkins with a glove save at the side of the net.

Dallas got an insurance goal while the teams were playing 4 on 4 as Jagr picked up a loose puck in the slot and spun around with a shot that beat Dubnyk. It was Jagr’s fourth of the season.

The Stars put the game away for good with three minutes left to play as Garbutt was able to chip a shot past the Oilers goalie despite having defender Nick Shultz draped all over him.

The Stars continue a three-game road trip in Calgary on Wednesday night.

The Oilers don’t play the second game of a five-game homestand until Saturday when they play host to the Colorado Avalanche.

Notes: It was the second of three meetings between the two teams this season. The Stars defeated the Oilers 3-2 in overtime last Wednesday on a goal by Jaromir Jagra The Stars have been incredibly successful against the Oilers since moving to Dallas, coming into the game with a 54-13-4-2 record against Edmontona The Oilers made a surprise move before the game decided to make veteran forward Ryan Smyth a healthy scratch. Defenceman Ryan Whitney was also benched for the third time in four gamesa Edmonton defenceman Mark Fistric made his first appearance against his old team since being acquired from Dallas just prior to the seasona Edmonton remained without forwards Ryan Jones (eye), Shawn Horcoff (hand) and Anton Lander (foot) a The only significant injury for the Stars was forward Ray Whitney (foot) _ on injured reserve and expected to miss 4-6 weeksa Oilers forward Darcy Hordichuk cleared waivers on Tuesday and was loaned to the AHL’s Oklahoma City Baronsa The Stars win was their 759th since the franchise moved to Texas 19 seasons ago, eclipsing the victory total the team had in 26 seasons as the Minnesota North Stars.