The Dallas Stars opened their preseason schedule Tuesday night in Florida, falling 3-2 to the Panthers at BB&T Center.

Florida dominated play early and built a 3-0 lead by the midway point of the game, but the Stars battled back to pull within 3-2 in the third period but couldn’t get the tying goal.

“We started slow as a team but it was the first game for a lot of players, and we’ve had a pretty demanding camp,” Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. “But midway through the game we got locked into winning some one-on-one battles, we skated better, and the game looked a lot better.”

Tyler Seguin and Jason Demers scored for the Stars. Jack Campbell got the start in goal and went the distance, stopping 32 of 35 shots.

“I thought Jack was good,” Ruff said. “He made a lot of good saves. In the second period, he made two or three big ones. He made a great save on a penalty shot. He gave us an opportunity to get back in the game, and that is all you can ask. For a period of time, he was our best player.”

The Panthers took a 1-0 lead at the 13:01 mark of the first. After a Dallas turnover, Johnathan Huberdeau came in all alone on Campbell and slipped the puck into the net for his first goal of the night.

Huberdeau made it a 2-0 game early in the second, scoring from the left circle off the rush just 38 seconds into the period. Campbell kept the Stars within two goals, stopping Nick Bjugstad on a penalty shot midway through the second.

The Stars came close to cutting into the lead late in the second, but a Seguin shot hit the post with Dallas on the power play.

Bjugstad extended the lead to 3-0 midway through the third period, scoring on the power play. But just 49 seconds later, Seguin tallied off a wrist shot to make it a 3-1 game. The Stars kept up the pressure and then Demers tallied with 1:16 remaining to make it a 3-2 game. The Stars pulled Campbell for the extra attacker, but couldn’t get the equalizer.



Notes

*At the end of regulation the Stars and Panthers played a 3-on-3 overtime period. Dallas prospect Mattias Janmark scored to give the Stars the win in the extra period. The NHL is having teams play the 3-on-3 period during some preseason games to get used to the new regular season overtime format that will be used starting in 2015-16.

*The Panthers outshot the Stars 35-24.

*Jason Demers led the Stars with four shots on goal.

*The Stars won 37 of 67 faceoffs (55 percent).

*Devin Shore won 12 of 16 draws (75 percent). Radek Faksa won 7 od 11 (64 percent). Tyler Seguin won 12 of 22 (55 percent). Mattias Janmark won 6 of 16 (38 percent).

*Julius Honka led the Stars with 21:37 of ice time. John Klingberg was next with 21:31 of ice time.



Stars lineup

Antoine Roussel – Tyler Seguin – Valeri Nichushkin

Brendan Ranford – Mattias Janmark – Colton Sceviour

Curtis McKenzie – Radek Faksa – Remi Elie

Jason Dickinson – Devin Shore – Gemel Smith



Jamie Oleksiak – John Klingberg

Jyrki Jokipakka – Jason Demers

Esa Lindell – Julius Honka



Jack Campbell

Philippe Desrosiers



This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club. Mark Stepneski is an independent writer whose posts on DallasStars.com reflect his own opinions and do not represent official statements from the Dallas Stars. You can follow Mark on Twitter @StarsInsideEdge.