Jamie Benn’s goal arrived at 8:52 of the second period, just 2:41 after Alex Newhook had given Montréal a 4-1 lead. It pulled the Dallas Stars within two and left 31:08 of regulation for the game to become uncomfortable again for the Canadiens. The opening was real. The follow-up never materialized.
Dallas lost 5-2 to Montréal at American Airlines Center, its second straight defeat, and Benn finished with two shots in 11:58 of ice time. His goal was useful precisely because it came after the visitors had turned a tied game into a steep climb.
It was not enough because Dallas could not produce another goal, or even a sustained attacking stretch, before Phillip Danault’s empty-net score at 19:12 of the third period.
The response itself had a clean place in the scoring sequence. Wyatt Johnston and Mikko Rantanen assisted on Benn’s even-strength goal, which restored a manageable 4-2 margin. Johnston had already scored Dallas’ first goal, a power-play marker at 12:53 of the opening period, and the two forwards were credited with points on both Stars goals.
Benn supplied the finish that kept the game alive; the burden afterward spread nowhere else on the scoresheet.
The first-period swing made that shortage expensive. Johnston’s power-play goal tied the game, but Newhook scored at 16:05 and Cole Caufield followed 27 seconds later. A 1-1 game became 3-1 before Dallas could answer.
Newhook’s second goal came at 6:11 of the second, and Benn’s goal followed 2:41 later. Dallas had already shown it could score against Montréal. It could not keep doing so often enough.
There was time for a chase, and the Stars did receive opportunities to alter its shape. Alexandre Carrier was penalized at 12:10 of the second, giving Dallas another power play after Benn’s goal. Arber Xhekaj took an interference penalty at 5:41 of the third, creating another man-advantage chance.
Neither produced a goal. Those chances belong in the account, because a two-goal deficit is precisely when a power play can turn one useful answer into pressure.
Instead, the third period became remarkably quiet for a trailing team. Dallas managed five shots on goal: Thomas Harley at 4:56, Johnston at 6:55, Arttu Hyry at 13:38, Miro Heiskanen at 14:13 and Jason Robertson at 17:33. The sequence does not describe an empty attack from start to finish, but it does describe too little volume spread across too much time.
Montréal’s Jakub Dobes stopped all five.
The Canadiens were sharper with their chances. Newhook scored twice on two shots, while Caufield scored twice on three. Their four goals before the empty-netter came at even strength, while Dallas had one even-strength goal and one power-play goal.
