San Jose, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - Jamie Benn scored a pair of goals and assisted on a another to help the Dallas Stars to a 5-1 win over the San Jose Sharks on Monday night.
Both teams, fighting for the final wild card spot in the Western Conference, were eliminated earlier in the night with Winnipeg's win against Minnesota.
Colton Sceviour, Patrick Eaves and Ryan Garbutt also scored for the Stars, who received 23 saves from Jhonas Enroth.
"The one thing I like is that this team has no quit," Dallas head coach Lindy Ruff said. "We came out really sharp and got the goal right off the bat tonight."
Joe Thornton supplied San Jose's lone goal, while Alex Stalock stopped 20 shots in the setback.
"We weren't good enough at home and that's probably what ended up costing us," Sharks head coach Todd McLellan said.
Sceviour opened the scoring 28 seconds into the game. San Jose had trouble clearing the puck out of its defensive zone, and Sceviour beat Stalock right out in front of the crease with a wrister.
Barclay Goodrow went to the penalty box for elbowing late in the first, then Eaves made the Sharks pay 22 seconds into the power play for a 2-0 lead.
Benn made it 3-0 on the power play 7:53 into the second, beating Stalock with a wrist shot. Thornton got the goal back, however, late on a power play with a slap shot off a feed from Chris Tierney.
Benn sealed the win 15:08 into the third by deflecting Tyler Seguin's shot by Stalock, then Garbutt added his eighth of the season with two minutes left in regulation.
Game Notes
Both teams have two games remaining to close out the season ... Seguin had two assists in the win ... Benn has 32 goals this season, two off his career high set last season.