CALGARY - Jamie Benn provided the Dallas Stars with all the offence they would need on Friday night. Cheap Saucony Shoes China .Benn scored his ninth goal of the season and set up the other as the Dallas Stars edged Calgary 2-1 to hand the Flames their seventh-straight loss.We wanted to play good team defence and take advantage of their mistakes. I dont think we wanted to go run-and-gun with them, said Benn. Theyre kind of a desperate team right now and thats a dangerous team. I thought we did a pretty good job.After a scoreless first period, the Stars took the lead four minutes into the second. Calgary rookie Markus Granlund won a face-off in the Flames end but Benn lifted Kris Russells stick just enough that he missed the puck in front of the Calgary net, allowing Benn to reel it in and beat Hiller on a quick backhand.I just kind of pick-pocketed him there. It was kind of a lucky break, said Benn, who moves into the top 20 in NHL scoring with 28 points.Dallas took a 2-0 lead eight minutes later when Trevor Daley took a pass from Benn and burst down the right side, ripping a shot over Hillers shoulder as the Flames goaltender dropped to the ice. That would be all the support Kari Lehtonen would need in net.After a busy night in Vancouver the Stars played a much more sound game defensively against the Flames. Calgary has only mustered 11 goals during its losing skid.Our guys played very well in front of me, said Lehtonen, who was tested only 22 times in improving to 13-7-5 this season. Its been a long time coming. Its been such an up-and-down season so far. Its been nice to be able to play a few good games in a row now.Lehtonen has started the last five games, winning four of them and only surrendering eight goals.I didnt like what happened in Vancouver. I thought (Lehtonen) was real good. We gave up probably four or five breakaways and I thought tonight we did a lot better job, said Stars coach Lindy Ruff. I thought (Lehtonen) was real sharp when we needed him, especially about five minutes into the first period when they had the one little flurry. Again, he was a difference-maker for us.Dallas (13-13-5) has won three games in a row to move within seven points of the Los Angeles Kings, who hold the final wild card spot in the Western Conference.The Stars will attempt to complete a perfect three-game road sweep through Western Canada when the play in Edmonton on Sunday.Tyler Seguin had an assist to take over the NHL scoring lead with 39 points (23 goals, 16 assists). He is one point up on Evgeni Malkin and Jakub Voracek.Mark Giordano scored the lone goal for Calgary (17-15-2), which has gone seven games in a row without picking up a point for the first time since an eight-game losing streak in 1998-99.Jonas Hiller stopped 19 shots in the loss.Weve gotta look in the mirror and say, Hey, we gotta maybe change it up a bit offensively, and try and grind some goals in, said Giordano. Were generating some chances, but its not good enough. I mean, one goals not good enough.The Flames started off the 2014-15 season by going an impressive 17-8-2. But they havent picked up a point since beating Colorado on Dec. 4 and have tumbled out of a playoff spot, sitting two points back of the Kings, who hold a game in hand.We had such a great start to the year, we dont want to just waste it in just this one stretch here. We trust our leadership, we trust our systems right now and its just a matter of going out and doing it, said Calgary centre Joe Colborne.The Flames final two games before Christmas are on the road. They play in Vancouver on Saturday night before taking on the reigning Stanley Cup champions in Los Angeles on Monday.Were not as confident with the puck as we were maybe three weeks ago, said Calgary coach Bob Hartley. We played a good game and weve played lots of pretty decent games. But at this level, its the result. Its the points you put in the standings and right now were falling quite rapidly.After intercepting Daleys clearing attempt at the blue-line, Giordano wristed a knuckler towards the net and eluded Lehtonen with 1:15 left in the second period to close the gap.Despite only being down one goal, Calgary failed to generate any sustained pressure in the third period.The Flames best chance came with 28 seconds left when they got a power play and had an opportunity to tie the game with Hiller pulled, but they were unable to take advantage.Notes: Matt Stajan was a healthy scratch for Calgary for the second time in five games. ... Among those not dressed for Dallas was Jordie Benn (illness)... With 23 goals in the Stars first 30 games, Seguin had the third highest goal total through that point in team history. Dino Ciccarelli had 29 in 1986-87 and had 26 in 1981-82. ... The last time the Flames lost seven games in a row in regulation time was December 2-17, 1974, when the franchise was in Atlanta. That eight-game losing streak in 1998-99 included an overtime loss although at the time, overtime losses werent worth a point, which is why it stands as the most recent occurrence of losing seven games in a row. Buy Sacony Shoes Online .Y. -- AJ Allmendingers journey is almost complete. Saucony Outlet Online . Cellino was ordered by a judge to pay a 600,000 euro ($800,000) fine for evading import taxes on a yacht he purchased in the United States and brought to Italy, the ANSA news agency reported.Alex Ovechkin’s slump, big nights for Abdelkader, Datsyuk and Smith; lineup news, fantasy tips and more in Scott Cullen’s Statistically Speaking. Held scoreless in Wednesday’s 4-2 loss to Detroit, Capitals LW Alex Ovechkin has now gone a career-worst five consecutive games without a point. It’s not burying Ovechkin to point out that he’s in a slump (and I’ve already been something of an Ovechkin apologist in the past), but it’s easy to see that Ovechkin is really doing a lot well right now, even if the points haven’t been coming as expected over this short span of games. In the first nine games of the Barry Trotz era in Washington, Ovechkin has posted a career-best Corsi% (measuring even-strength shot attempts) of 59.4%. OVECHKIN POSSESSION STATS YEAR CORSI% CORSI REL% 2007-08 58.1% +4.2% 2008-09 57.4% +4.2% 2009-10 57.8% +7.2% 2010-11 53.9% +4.0% 2011-12 47.4% -2.3% 2012-13 49.2% +0.7% 2013-14 49.3% +2.5% 2014-15 59.4% +5.0% What’s encouraging about these numbers is that Ovechkin is driving play like he did earlier in his career, and a far cry from his 2011-2012 season when his offensive production hit career-low rates (65 points in 78 games). Like last season, Ovechkin is not getting much help from linemates – his lone assist this year has come on the power play – but thanks to a recent decline in shots on goal, his 4.22 shots on goal per game ranks as the second-lowest of his career. In the first four games of this dry spell, Ovechkin had mustered just seven shots on goal and that’s some reason for concern, because he’s always been a high-volume shooter, leading the league in shots on goal in eight of his nine seasons but, let’s not overreact, it was just four games. Wednesday, against Detroit, Ovechin attempted 13 shots, with seven on goal, against the Red Wings, which is a good way to get out of a scoring slump. Because Ovechkin’s underlying numbers have been so good, there’s not so much reason to worry about this slump, because those signs point to goals and points coming back at a more regular rate soon. HEROES Justin Abdelkader – Hard-hitting winger who gets to play a complementary role with some elite players in Detroit and he scored two goals and an assist in Wednesday’s 4-2 win at Washington. He scored a career-high 28 points last season, but has eight points (5 G, 3 A) in nine games this year, riding a 22.7% shooting percentage that won’t last, but he is also playing a career-high 16:30 per game and generating a career-best 2.44 shots on goal per game. Pavel Datsyuk – The Magician tallied a goal and an assist, with a team-leading eight shot attempts (4 SOG) in the win at Washington. Datsyuk has five points in four games since returning from injury, and the Red Wings have eased him in, playing 18:42 per game. Saucony Clearance Outlet. The last season in which he averaged less ice time per game (than this admittedly very small sample) was 2005-2006. Craig Smith – The Predators’ leading goal-scorer, with 24, last season, Smith buried a pair of goals on nine shot attempts (5 SOG), while posting quality possession stats (17 shot attempts for, 10 against, 63.0%) in a 4-1 win at Edmonton. ZEROES Niklas Kronwall – The Red Wings’ No. 1 defenceman had a rough night, possession-wise, on for five shot attempts for and 18 against (21.7%). His worst forward matchups, head-to-head, were against Capitals C Nicklas Backstrom (2 shot attempts for, 10 against, 16.7%) and RW Joel Ward (2 for, 13 against, 13.3%). Mark Arcobello – Despite not starting an even-strength shift in the defensive zone, the Oilers’ centre had his team’s worst possession stats (9 shot attempts for, 16 against, 36.0%). SHORT SHIFTS Red Wings C Henrik Zetterberg had a pair of assists…Predators D Roman Josi had two assists and blocked seven shots…Predators G Pekka Rinne stopped 26 of 27 shots for the win in Edmonton. LINEUP NEED TO KNOW Capitals RW Eric Fehr was scratched from the lineup as second-year RW Tom Wilson was inserted into the lineup for his first game of the season after suffering a broken ankle in the summer. Predators C Calle Jarnkrok, still looking for his first point of the season, was scratched from the lineup in Edmonton Wednesday. Predators D Seth Jones played a season-low 14:46 at Edmonton, though had a solid possession game (15 shot attempts for, 9 against, 62.5%) in that limited role. FIRSTS Predators C Matt Cullen played his first game of the season, picking up an assist while playing 15:18. FANTASY FOCUS A few players, available in more than half of TSN leagues, to monitor on a busy 10-game night in the NHL: Jori Lehtera – Someone in St. Louis has to get the puck to the Blues’ scoring wingers and with injuries to Paul Stastny and David Backes, Lehtera is clearly the best option down the middle. He has six points in seven games and is centering Alexander Steen and Vladimir Tarasenko heading into tonight’s matchup with Anaheim. Michael Raffl – Getting moved to the Flyers’ top line with Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek is working well for Raffl, who has four goals and five points in the past five games. Tonight, the Flyers go to Tampa Bay, which isn’t an easy matchup, but Raffl is still available in nearly 99% of TSN leagues. Seth Griffith – The rookie winger has emerged as the Bruins’ best option on the right side with David Krejci and Milan Lucic, scoring three goals and five points in the past four games. Really, anyone on the Bruins is worth a look since they are in Buffalo to play the Sabres. Much of the data included comes from www.war-on-ice.com, www.puckalytics.com, www.hockeystats.ca and www.naturalstattrick.com Scott Cullen can be reached at scott.cullen@bellmedia.ca