Stars 5, Hurricanes 3: Defenseman Alex Goligoski and Cody Eakin each had a goal and an assist as visiting Dallas kept its playoff hopes alive with its fourth victory in five games.

Curtis McKenzie and defenseman Jason Demers also tallied while Patrick Eaves scored into an empty net to go along with an assist for the Stars, who moved within seven points of Los Angeles in the race for the second wild card in the Western Conference. Kari Lehtonen turned aside 15 shots in his 500th career appearance to win his second straight start.

Victor Rask had a goal and set up two others for Carolina, which lost its third consecutive game. Chris Terry and Andrej Nestrasil each scored a third-period goaland Anton Khudobin made 27 saves in defeat.

Carolina opened the scoring four minutes into the contest as Rask flicked home a backhander off a rebound but McKenzie knocked home a cross-crease pass 3 1/2 minutes later to ignite a spurt of three goals in under nine minutes. Goligoski put Dallas ahead to stay midway through the period, skating in and burying a shot from the slot off a feed from Shawn Horcoff.

Demers made it 3-1 when his wrist shot from the right point beat Khudobin short side with 3:35 left in the session. The Stars seemingly put it out of reach when Eakin scored on a redirection 11 1/2 minutes into the third but Terry and and Nestrasil scored 48 seconds apart to make it a one-goal deficit before Eaves sealed it.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Goligoski scored his 50th career goal and fourth of the season. ... Rask has two goals and four assists during a three-game point streak. ... Stars rookie D John Klingberg sat out the contest due to an upper-body injury sustained in Tuesday's victory at Philadelphia while Eakin returned after missing one game for disciplinary reasons.