(Photo credit: Bob Frid-Imagn Images)

Mikael Granlund broke a deadlock late in the second period and sparked the visiting Dallas Stars to a 4-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday.

Thomas Harley, Jason Robertson and Mikko Rantanen also scored for the Stars, who have won five of six games to strengthen their hold on second place in the Central Division. Matt Duchene and Cody Ceci both collected a pair of assists and goaltender Casey DeSmith made 22 saves.

Derek Forbort replied for the Canucks, who had a modest two-game winning streak snapped and remain one point behind the Calgary Flames for the Western Conference's second wild-card position.

Vancouver goalie Kevin Lankinen stopped 15 shots.

With the score tied 1-1, Granlund scored with 25.9 seconds remaining in the second period with the game-winning goal. Granlund made no mistake with a long rebound opportunity to score his first goal since being acquired from the San Jose Sharks by the Stars on Feb. 1, in his 13th game for Dallas.

Robertson continued his torrid scoring pace when he extended the Dallas lead to 3-1 at 8:26 of the third period. On a rush, Robertson drove to the net and redirected the pass from Duchene to increase his point-scoring run to eight games (eight goals, seven assists). It was the first shot of the period for Dallas.

Vancouver pressed in the late going but only rang a couple of shots off the iron before Rantanen's empty-net goal with 68 seconds remaining iced the clash. Rantanen, acquired prior to Friday's trade deadline and signed to an eight-year contract extension, has scored in both games since joining the Stars.

Dallas, coming off a loss on Saturday, never trailed.

Harley opened the scoring at 5:17 of the second period. His long point shot was partially blocked by Lankinen, but the puck bounced around in the netminder's equipment and trickled over the line.

Forbort replied about six minutes later with his first NHL goal in more than two years. The defenseman worked down to the right face-off dot and upon receiving a pass whipped a quick shot into the net. Forbort last scored in the league on Feb. 16, 2023 and had gone 82 games without lighting the lamp

Prior to the game, the Stars announced standout forward Roope Hintz had returned to Dallas after being hit in the face by a puck in Edmonton. Dallas is also without top-pair defenseman Miro Heiskanen following knee surgery.

--Field Level Media