Associated Press

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Ryan Kesler scored the deciding goal in a shootout, lifting the Vancouver Canucks to a 2-1 victory over the Dallas Stars on Wednesday night.

It took six rounds of the tiebreaker to settle this one, and Kesler ended it with a backhander past goalie Marty Turco. Stu Barnes had an opportunity to send it into another round but his effort was stopped by Roberto Luongo.

Vancouver scored twice on six opportunities in the shootout with Brendan Morrison also beating Turco, 3-1 this season in the tiebreaker and 15-2 in his career. Jussi Jokinen was the only Dallas player to score on Luongo.

The Stars nearly won the game in overtime when they had several prime scoring chances in the final minute.

With Daniel Sedin in the penalty boxing for hooking Sergei Zubov, the Stars were in position to win.

Philippe Boucher hit a goal post with 30 seconds left. Just 10 seconds later, Luongo made a great right pad save on Zubov from point-blank range. If that wasn’t enough, Jere Lehtinen’s deflected shot in the final seconds only slipped into Luongo’s midsection.

Senators 6, Sabres 3

OTTAWA — Dany Heatley scored three goals and tied an Ottawa record with four points in the second period, leading the Senators to a 6-3 victory over the Buffalo Sabres.

Heatley, who also combined with newcomer Mike Comrie to set up a goal by Tom Preissing, tied his career high for points in a game and matched Alexei Yashin’s club record for most points in a period. His hat trick also tied the team record for goals in a period.