Final Score: Tampa Bay 6, Dallas 3

Dallas, TX (Sports Network) - Ryan Craig tallied a goal and two assists and Darryl Sydor added a goal and an assist as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Dallas Stars, 6-3, at AmericanAirlines Center.

Pavel Kubina, Brad Richards and Ruslan Fedotenko scored a goal each for Tampa, which has won two straight and three of its last four games. Sean Burke made 25 saves and Vaclav Prospal had two helpers for the Lightning.

Niko Kapanen, Jaroslav Svoboda and Jason Arnott scored a goal apiece for Dallas, which has lost three straight games for the first time this season. Marty Turco stopped three of seven shots before being pulled in favor of Johan Hedberg. Hedberg finished with 13 saves and Philippe Boucher added two assists for Dallas.

Tampa Bay drew first blood 4:30 into the first period while shorthanded after Fredrik Modin gathered a loose puck in the Stars' zone and shuttled a pass to Richards in the slot. Richards beat Turco stick side with a wrist shot for a 1-0 lead.

The Lightning made it 2-0 just under four minutes later after Sydor beat Turco for just his second goal of the season.

Dallas got on the scoreboard with 9:45 left in the opening stanza after Kapanen poked a rebound past Burke to make it 2-1.

Tampa Bay scored the next two goals to carry a 4-1 lead into the second period. Less than 30 seconds after the Stars' tally, Fedotenko's shot from the right point caromed off of a scrum in front and past Turco to make it 3-1. Less than two minutes after that, Kubina's shot from the right corner hit a skate in front and bounced past Turco for a power-play goal and a 4-1 advantage.

Turco was pulled after this goal and Hedberg took over netminding duties.

The Lightning extended their lead just 2:28 into the second frame after Craig beat Hedberg with a wrist shot from the right circle to make it 5-1.

Undaunted, Dallas scored twice to pull within two. Svoboda netted his third of the season after he poked a rebound off Burke's right pad and in to make it 5-2 3:47 into the second stanza. Just over two minutes later, the Stars made it 5-3 after Arnott deflected a shot past Burke while camped on the doorstep.

The Stars pulled Hedberg with 1:25 left in the game and, 15 seconds later, Dimitry Afanasenkov scored in the empty net for Tampa to make it 6-3.

Game Notes

The Stars are 17-5-3 all-time against Tampa Bay, but the Lightning have won three of the last four trips to Dallas...Kubina notched a goal in his 500th career game...Tampa Bay was 1-for-5 on the power play, while Dallas finished 0-for-2...Dallas outshot Tampa Bay 28-22.

01/20 23:35:43 ET