Canucks hold off Stars 4-3

Brendan Morrison scored the tiebreaking goal early in the third period and added two assists to send Vancouver to a 4-3 victory over the Dallas Stars after the Canucks had wasted an early three-goal lead Saturday night.

Matt Pettinger, Ryan Kesler and Markus Naslund also scored for the Canucks, and Roberto Luongo made 34 saves.

Brad Richards scored a short-handed goal, Mike Modano notched his 526th career tally — tops among U.S.-born players — and Joel Lundqvist also scored for the Stars.

With the game tied at 3, Naslund's centering pass pinballed off Morrison's skate and past goalie Marty Turco at 3:04 of the final period.

Morrison was credited with his ninth of the season after a video review showed that Morrison didn't intentionally kick the puck in.

The slumping Stars have lost four of five and were passed by the San Jose Sharks for the Pacific Division lead earlier in the week.

Johan Holmqvist struggled in his first start for the Stars since he was acquired along with Richards in a five-player trade with the Tampa Bay Lightning on Feb. 26. Holmqvist sat out seven games with the Stars as the backup to No. 1 goalie Turco, then gave up three goals on 12 shots to the Canucks before he was pulled to start the second period.

Holmqvist allowed Vancouver's second shot to escape through his pads for Pettinger's fourth of the season at 2:32 of the opening period.

Kesler made it 2-0 at 9:07 of the frame when Kesler stuffed a power-play rebound past Holmqvist for his 20th goal.

A turnover by Dallas defenseman Trevor Daley led to a 2-on-1 break, and Naslund converted a pass from Pettinger for his 23rd goal. That made it 3-0 at 11:13 of the first.

Lundqvist got the Stars on the scoreboard with 13 seconds left in the period, notching his third on a rebound.

Modano pulled the Stars within 3-2 at 7:35 of the second with a power-play goal on a shot from beyond the left circle. It was his 19th of the season.

Richards drew Dallas even at 3 at 13:58 of the second on a short-handed breakaway, his 20th goal of the season and second in seven games with the Stars.

The Stars had won seven straight at home against the Canucks and were 11-3-2 overall versus Vancouver in the previous 16 regular-season meetings.

Notes:@ Vancouver D Mattias Ohlund missed his second straight game with a knee injury, and Canucks D Aaron Miller sat out his fourth in a row because of a shoulder injury. ... Dallas C Steve Ott served the second of a three-game suspension for a hit to the head of Colorado's Jordan Leopold. ... Turco stopped Naslund on a penalty shot with 4:44 remaining.