DALLAS — Sam Steel scored 35 seconds after the puck dropped, and the Dallas Stars scored four goals in the first 16 minutes on the way to a 9-2 rout of the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night.
Matt Duchene scored two goals and had two assists against his old team after being bought out by the Predators last summer. Another former Nashville player, Craig Smith, scored in the early flurry for the Central Division leaders.
Wyatt Johnson made it 4-0 at 15:53 as he finished with two goals and two assists.
Tyler Seguin and Ty Dellandrea had a goal and two assists apiece as Dallas won its third straight. Miro Heiskanen also had a goal.
The Stars split the season series with Nashville 2-2 and made up for a 6-3 loss in Dallas the last time the teams met on Jan. 12. They dominated from the start as they chase Vancouver atop the Western Conference.
Cole Smith and Tommy Novak scored for Nashville, which has lost five of six. Michael McCarron had an assist as he skated in his 200th career NHL game.
Nashville got its first shot on net with about 6 minutes remaining in the first. It was a lackadaisical start for a franchise two points out of the West's two wild-card spots three weeks ahead of the NHL trade deadline.
After Steel started the scoring, Duchene, who came in as the Stars' second-leading scorer, put on his own show.
Duchene got his 20th to make it 2-0 and added his 21st on a backhander with 12.3 seconds left in the second for a 7-2 lead. He had an assist on the final goal, giving him 54 points in 53 games for Dallas after totaling 56 points in 71 games for Nashville last season.
The Stars outshot Nashville 18-1 over the first 20 minutes. But it was a costly period for Dallas. Defenseman Nils Lundkvist played only two shifts before leaving with an upper body injury.
Nashville pulled Juuse Saros after he gave up four goals on 18 shots. Kevin Lankinen didn't fare much better, giving up three goals on 15 shots faced in the second alone.
The Stars scored two more in the third with Johnston finishing it with a power-play goal to cap their mothers' road trip. Dallas used Scott Wedgewood in net after Jake Oettinger made 20 saves through two periods.
