OTTAWA - A clutch goal from their captain helped the Dallas Stars end their road woes.
Brenden Morrow scored the game-winner as the Stars defeated the Ottawa Senators 2-1 Wednesday night.
The Stars (11-8-1) came into Ottawa having lost their last four road games and were happy to win one away from Texas.
"I was pleased with the way we played and the guys are pretty happy about it too, so hopefully it will bode well for us on the road in the future," said Stars head coach Marc Crawford.
Seeing Morrow score the game-winner was also a relief for the Stars. He had just one goal in his last seven games.
"For the people who have seen us a lot this year Brenden has been marvellous and it was great to see him score tonight," Crawford said.
Trevor Daley also scored for the Stars and Andrew Raycroft made 18 saves for his second win of the season.
"I think that was a great road game, almost a perfect road game," Raycroft said. "I was able to get in front of a couple and not give anything bad up and get a win."
Ryan Shannon scored the lone goal for the Senators (10-11-1), losers of four of their last five. Pascal Leclaire made 24 saves.
The game was far from entertaining for the 16,281 on hand at Scotiabank Place.
"It was not a very exciting game at all," said Senators forward Mike Fisher. "(Leclaire) kept us in for a lot of the game and made some big saves and we didn't generate a lot as far as quality chances and when we did Raycroft was there. We just didn't seem to have any spark or jump that we needed."
The Senators continued to struggle with their offensive game, and managing just 19 shots did little to help turn things around.
"We're just not putting enough pucks on net," said Ottawa coach Cory Clouston.
"Offensively we're not firing on all cylinders right now," added Fisher. "We've got to find a way to get pucks to the net and get them in somehow."
The game was scoreless after the first period as both teams created chances, but the puck seemed to take some strange bounces.
The Stars had a great opportunity early in the second with a mad scramble just in front of the crease, but neither Tom Wandell nor Brandon Segal could get a stick on the puck.
Dallas opened the scoring less than a minute later as Daley beat Leclaire high on his glove side.
Leclaire has been solid this season but has often been the victim of his teammates' failure to create any offence to support his performance.
"I thought we worked hard and if we continue to work hard and play well the wins will come," Leclaire said. "Sometimes you have to give credit to the other team."
The Senators tied the game at 16:29 of the second on an ugly goal. Shannon shot from just inside the blue-line, and after a few bounces the puck ended up behind Raycroft.
Dallas had a great chance to end the period with the lead as Morrow had a breakaway with 35 seconds remaining, but Leclaire made the save.
However Morrow didn't make the same mistake twice.
He scored his ninth of the season after some strong work by Mike Ribeiro to maintain possession deep in the Senators end. Ribeiro spotted Morrow at the top of the slot, and he quickly beat Leclaire with a wrist shot.
"Sometimes in a tie game it just takes a bounce to go one way or another," Leclaire said. "Once they scored they really didn't give us anything."
Notes: D Brian Lee and D Erik Karlsson were a healthy scratch for the Senators....The Stars were without D Mark Fistric (lower body, day-to-day). D Severin Blindernacher and C Brian Sutherby were a healthy scratch.