By AP
DALLAS – Patrick Eaves had three goals, Brad Stuart scored the tiebreaker at 5:29 of the third period, and the Detroit Red Wings rallied for a 7-3 victory over the Dallas Stars on Wednesday night.
Goals by Brad Richards, Mark Fistric and Jamie Benn in a 1:14 span in the second period gave the Stars a 3-1 lead. But Eaves struck on the power play after Nicklas Lidstrom scored at even strength to help the Red Wings tie it at 3 entering the final period. Stuart's blast from the point got past goalie Kari Lehtonen, who was screened by Detroit's Justin Abdelkader.
Kris Draper's goal from the left circle at 13:23 of the third, and Eaves' second of the night 44 seconds later gave Detroit a three-goal edge. Eaves completed his hat trick with an empty-netter at 17:46.
Jiri Hudler contributed a first-period power-play goal, and Jimmy Howard made 28 saves for the Wings, who improved to 52 points to tighten their grip on first place in the Western Conference.