DALLAS -- Jamie Benn brought his golden touch to the ice for the Dallas Stars. The Canadian Olympian had a goal and two assists to lead Dallas to a 4-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night. Kari Lehtonen made 29 saves for Dallas (28-21-10), which moved back into eighth place, the final playoff spot, in the Western Conference. Tyler Seguin, Brenden Dillon and Cody Eakin also scored for the Stars. Dallas scored two of its goals short-handed in regaining the momentum it had with a 6-1-2 record in the nine games before its 19-day Olympic break. While most of Dallas players hadnt been in a game for 2 1/2 weeks, Benn took on penalty-killing duties for Canada in the Olympics. "The more you penalty kill, the more comfortable you are with it," he said. "Ive got quite a bit of penalty-killing time lately and a lot more tonight, so I feel comfortable out there. I thought our group did a great job on the kill tonight and keep building off that." Benn looked completely at home on the penalty kill late in the second period he took the puck away in the Dallas end, skated the length of the ice, faked Hurricanes goalie Anton Khudobin to his left and put the puck behind the goalie to his right. "Every once in a while, (Benn) comes out with some magic and great skating," Kari Lehtonen said. "He makes highlight-reel goals and great passes." Seguin scored 3:18 into the game, and Dillon gave Dallas a 2-0 lead with a short-handed goal at 6:13 of the first. Benn, who scored two game-winning goals for Canadas gold medal-winning team, assisted on both. "Any time Jamie Benn is going up the ice, youve got to expect a goal," Dillon said. "He just keeps proving every game and every day that hes one of the best players in the world. I think after the Olympics everybody knows that. He just keeps getting better and better." On Dillons goal, the Stars penalty killers skated in two-on-two, but one of the Hurricanes had broken his stick. Benn dropped a pass at the top of the slot to Dillon, who shot into the left side of the net. Carolina coach Kirk Muller rued the Hurricanes poor start. "We werent happy with our first period tonight," he said. "When you give a team like that the opportunity and advantage its hard to come back." The Hurricanes had allowed only two short-handed goals, fourth-fewest in the league, in their first 58 games. "We really very seldom get scored on on the power play," Muller said. "Its a couple of mistakes early on that cost us." Lehtonen played for bronze medal-winning Finland in the Olympics. Valeri Nichushkin, whose backhand pass set up Seguins goal, played for Russia. "I thought (Lehtonen) gave us some real big saves, timely saves," Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. "He kept them off the board for the first 40, and in the third he made a few more quality saves." Benn, the Stars captain, said all of his teammates appeared ready. "A little rusty I guess, maybe a little tired sometimes, but I thought our team came out great," he said. "They took care of their bodies over the three weeks and were ready to go tonight." Eric Staal scored for Carolina at 2:42 of the third period. Eakin had an empty-net goal in the final minute. Dallas had finished the first period with an 11-10 advantage in shots on goal, and had an 11-8 advantage in shots in the middle frame. "In the third, we started playing a little bit better, but it was too late," Hurricanes centre Elias Lindholm said. "I dont think we were ready to go from the beginning." Carolina, which had returned to the ice Tuesday against Buffalo, took the first eight shots of the third period, including Staals 16th goal. Andrej Sekera recorded his 100th career assist on the goal. The Stars have 66 points, one more than ninth-place Vancouver. Carolina has lost five of its last seven games. NOTES: Dillons six goals this season include two of the Stars seven short-handed scores. . The Hurricanes had allowed two short-handed goals in their first 58 games. . Carolina forward Alexander Semin, a Russian Olympian, left Thursdays game because of a lower-body injury. Muller said, "Its tough because hes been our hottest forward in the last 15-20 games." . Seguin has 12 points (four goals, eight assists) in his last nine games. . Benns gold medal and Lehtonens bronze from the Olympics were on display. Fans could have their pictures taken beside the medals. . Carolina was 0 for 5 with a man advantage. The Hurricanes havent scored in their last 22 power plays (six games) on the road. . The Stars have allowed only 13 goals in their last 10 games. Ryan Reaves Golden Knights Jersey . Anderson shook off some unusually poor shooting and hit two clutch 3-pointers in overtime that carried the New Orleans Pelicans to a 111-106 victory over the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night. Marc-Andre Fleury Jersey . - The Denver Broncos kept rookie wide receiver Tavarres King from joining the Green Bay Packers by promoting him to their active roster Tuesday. http://www.goldenknightssale.com/. And all things considered, the first 40 games have offered a little bit of everything from a hockey club that faced many questions in its first year under new management, with a new head coach and with a number of new faces in the lineup. However, with a recent dip in scoring, it seems some of the same old questions persist and several new ones have been raised after a somewhat troubling homestand. Nick Holden Golden Knights Jersey .com) - The surprising Calgary Flames host the winless New Jersey Devils at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Friday. Tomas Nosek Golden Knights Jersey . - Joao Plata scored twice in the final 24 minutes, including the winner in stoppage time, to help Real Salt Lake remain unbeaten with a 3-2 victory over the winless Chicago Fire on Saturday night.TSN Baseball Analyst Steve Phillips answers several questions surrounding the game each week. This weeks topics include the Blue Jays future plans, the slumping Detroit Tigers, the greatness of Mike Trout and Major League teams expanding their rosters. 1) With the Toronto Blue Jays chances of making the post-season looking bleak for this season, given the limited contractual time remaining on their core a€“ most have either one or two years left, should the club look to rebuild in the off-season by trading away key players like Jose Bautista? Absolutely not. I have said all season long that this was a season to go for it because the Yankees, Red Sox and Rays (the Big Three) were all less than what was expected. Plus I dont believe the Orioles have the kind of pitching to win in the playoffs. I know that the Big Three will aggressively try to improve for next season. The Red Sox have already started the reconfiguration. But I am not convinced that any of the three will be able to dramatically improve. That means that the division will be up for grabs again. The Jays still have two years left in their window to win. They have Bautista, Reyes, Lind, Encarnacion, Lawrie and Dickey all under control through 2016. Plus they have their bevy of good young arms to support this core. The Jays have an enough offense. If they had added a pitcher or two at any point this year they may have been able to win. It is not time to rebuild. Just because the Jays have young pitchers doesnt mean they need young position players. It seems like everyone thinks trading Jose Bautista is an key to rebuilding the Jays. He is the key to winning now. He is a major power bat who is still very productive. He has two years left on his deal at $14M/year. That is a steal. He is a bargain. The Jays have one of the most club favorable contracts in baseball with his deal. Power costs big bucks in the free agent market. Power arms and power bats make the most money. Bautista is worth close to $20M/year. The Jays may be able to get a few players for him but because he his contract is so favorable he allows the Jays to afford multiple other players. Rebuilding will set the Jays back for a decade. The Red Sox and Yankees will never really rebuild. They will retool and reconfigure but they wont go all young like the Rays. The best teams have a combination of youth and experience. The Jays have that now. They just need to add a few pitchers and they can compete NOW!!!!!! 2) Despite adding David Price at the non-waiver trade deadline, the Detroit Tigers have struggled in August, losing the division lead and now in a dog-fight for a Wild Card. Do you think the Tigers will right the ship and make the post-season? What a difference a month makes. We were celebrating the Tigers and their acquisitions of Joakim Soria and David Price. They had added protection at the closer role in Soria and an ace in Price. Joe Nathan has struggled as the closer most of the year. Soria gave Detroit a veteran set-up man who could take over ninth inning duties if Nathan continued to struggle. Price gave the Tigers the deepest rotation in baseball. It was an aggressive move by GM Dave Dombrowski and a strong response to the As acquisition of John Lester from the Red Sox. In fact we had the As and Tigers all set to meet in the ALCS. Baseball is a funny game. It rarely goes exactly as planned. Soria went on the DL with a left oblique strain. He is still working to return. Anibel Sanchez went on the DL as well with a pectoral strain. There is no plan for him to return to the starting rotation any time soon. Justin Verlander has struggled most of he season and recently missed a start with a sore shoulder. What looked like the best rotation in baseball has guys named Buck Farmer and Robbie Ray making starts during this critical stretch. The Royals are playing great baseball this month as are the Seattle Mariners. I think both of them peaked abit early and have struggles coming their way. I think the veteran leadership of the Tigers will find their way. Verlander will be better. Price will bounce back after his horrific last start and rattle off several straight wins. Nathan and Soria will stabalize the end of the game in the final month. Scerzer and Porcello have been remarkably good and that will continue. The Tigers big boppers are due to get hot. Miguel Cabrera will start to drive the ball over the wall in September. Victor Martinez will continue to hit like an MVP candidate and Ian Kinsler will be the clutch player he is. I believe in the Tigers talent and their experience. The Royals are going to run out of gas. Their offense is just not consistent enough to support their pitching. They dont have power and they dont earn base on balls. The just dont give themselves enough opportunities to score. The Mariners are not the most consistent offensive team either but their starting pitchinng is phenomenal.dddddddddddd Felix Hernandez, Hisashi iwakuma and Chris Young have been amazing all season long. Their starting pitching gives them a chance to win every night. The Tigers will win the AL Central and the Mariners will edge the Royals for the second Wild Card spot. 3) Mike Trout recently became the fifth ever American League player to have two 30-home run seasons through age 22. While hes not leading any single offensive category, he should be the American League MVP this season, right? The good news for Mike Trout is that Miguel Cabrera isnt having as good a season as he has over the past couple of years when he edged Trout out of the AL MVP Award. The bad news is that Trout isnt having his best year either. Dont get me wrong, Trout is absolutely a leading candidate for the MVP Award but this is his third best major league season. It certainly helps Trouts case that the Angels are playing so well and will likely make the playoffs. Trout will only be challenged by Jose Abreu of the White Sox and Victor Martinez of the Tigers for the MVP Award. Abreu has more home runs (33/30) and RBI (97/94) than Trout and is hitting for a higher average (.312/.291). Yet, Trout has outscored Abreu by 21 runs. (91/70). Trout plays a more important defensive role and excels in centerfield. Trout is second in the league in WAR (6.5 wins above replacement) and is 2 wins better than Abreu in the category. I give the edge to Trout over Abreu. Abreu will be the AL Rookie of the Year. Victor Martinez has a better batting average (.327/.291) than Trout but trails him in runs, RBI, home runs and WAR. Plus Martinez is a designated hitter which means he doesnt impact the game at all defensively. Trout definitely has the edge over Martinez. We are seeing the beginning of what will be one of the best careers ever. This will be the first of multiple MVP Awards for the young man. He will become the face of baseball and one of its most celebrated stars ever. He will certainly be in Cooperstown when it is all said and done. 4) On September 1, major league rosters expand from 25 active players to a maximum of 40. Thats right, teams can have 40 players active on their roster if they choose to do so. No team will expand to the full 40 players but each team will add at least a few extra players. Some will add more than others. Typically large market teams in the playoff hunt will add the most players. Smaller market teams in the playoff hunt and large market teams that wont be playing in October will add the next highest number, followed by small market teams not going to the playoffs. There is good reason for why rosters expand in September. Clubs need to have depth in the major leagues to protect against injuries for the month of September (and October). Minor league seasons conclude around September 1 and the players head home. If the big league team has an injury on September 8th there would be no active minor leaguers to call up to replace the injured player. There are other important reasons that rosters expand in September. Teams take advantage of the opportunity to fortify their rosters to satisfy needs for particular situations that come up during the games. They may add an additional lefty reliever or right-handed submarine pitcher. They may add speed to get an important stolen base in a critical game down the stretch. It is necessary to have a pinch hitter who is good at leading off an inning and it is just as necessary to have a guy who can hit one out of the park coming off the bench. Ideally you need a left-handed hitting and right-handed hitting version of each guy. The other area where managers want to feel protected is having enough pitching to cover an 18-inning game. This inventory will also allow the manager to use less important pitchers in games that are blowouts and to save their better arms for closer games. Every team adds a catcher or two for the month of September in case of injuries. Plus they are helpful because they need to catch all of the extra pitchers on the roster. This all sounds appropriate right? Here is the problem with it. Baseball plays with one set of rules for 5 months and then the rules change in the 6th month. Why? It is ridiculous? No other sport expands its rosters in the regular season. Why should some teams have 35 players available to the manager in a game and the other team only 30. I understand and support the need to protect against injuries in September but managers should still only have 25 players to choose from for each game. The manager should have to stipulate which 25 players he is making active on for each game. That way the playing field is level. Small market teams arent undermanned going in to the game. I think this is a rule that new Commissioner Rob Manfred should install for next season. I wouldnt mind if he would like to call it the Phillips Rule. ' ' '