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DALLAS - Ondrej Pavelec thought he had one of his better games. Winnipeg Jets coach Paul Maurice insisted his goalie was selling himself short.Pavelec made a season-high 46 saves, leading the Jets past the Dallas Stars 2-1 on Thursday night.Anything out of my mouth that doesnt start or finish with Ondrej Pavelec, Id be doing him and the game a disservice. He was beyond spectacular, Maurice said. I cant remember a game where I saw a goalie have to face that number of A-plus chances and if he did, he never, ever kept them at zero for 59 minutes.Michael Frolik scored a first-period goal, and Evander Kane added a short-handed clincher at 7:34 of the third during a four-minute Dallas power play.Trevor Daley scored the Stars goal at 18:44 of the third period after coach Lindy Ruff had pulled goalie Anders Lindback.Pavelec made 22 of his saves in the second period, preserving what was then a 1-0 lead. Pavelec stopped breakaways by the Stars Shawn Horcoff and Cody Eakin.It was one of my better games, Pavelec said. It was a big game for us. It didnt go the way we wanted, but we found a way to win and the penalty kill was huge. We took too many penalties. That cant happen again.The biggest penalty kill followed a double-minor against Blake Wheeler with Winnipeg still leading 1-0 in the third period.The Stars didnt score, but the Jets did. Kane knocked a bouncing puck off Daleys skate and between Lindbacks legs for a short-handed goal at 7:34.I was on the breakaway, and then it kind of hopped on me, Kane said. Guy tried to kill me coming across the middle there. I just got a bit of a touch on it and ricocheted off a skate and went in. Nice to get a bounce.Daley said: I think he whiffed on it twice, and it just went off my foot. (Lindback) played great tonight. Its unfortunate we didnt get the win for him.The Stars put 13 shots on goal during their power plays, but the Jets one was more productive.Winnipeg killed all of the Stars season-high seven power plays, including four in the third period. Dallas power play is 1 for 24 in the last seven games.The power play had point-blank opportunities, Ruff said. Your best players have to put it in the back of the net, and they didnt go.Lindback made 20 saves for Dallas before leaving for the extra skater with 2 1/2 minutes to play.Winnipeg took a 1-0 lead just 3:53 into the game. Mathieu Perreault passed in front from the right corner, and Frolik skated in to redirect the puck past Lindback.The Jets killed two penalties in the first period, and outshot the Stars 11-9.Dallas dominated the second period, outshooting Winnipeg 22-6, but neither team scored.With the teams skating 4-on-4, Eakin had a breakaway but shot the puck over Pavelecs left shoulder and the crossbar.Winnipeg stayed five points ahead of Calgary in the Western Conference wild-card standings, and Dallas fell to five points behind Los Angeles and four behind Calgary. The Jets are 8-4-2 against Central Division opponents, but the Stars are just 2-8-5.NOTES: To start the game, Ruff switched the first two lines, moving up Eakin to centre Jamie Benn and Brett Ritchie and putting Tyler Seguin with Antoine Roussel and Ryan Garbutt. Seguin, still tied for the NHL lead in goals entering the game, and Benn have totalled only three goals in their last 11 games. Eakin and Seguin were back with their former lines before the first period ended. ... Lindback earned his sixth start by stopping 34 of 36 in 2 1/2 periods in relief of Kari Lehtonen on Tuesday. ... Stars C Vernon Fiddler (lower-body injury) missed his second straight game. ... Winnipegs Perreault assisted on Froliks goal for his ninth point in five games. ... Pavelecs career high is 50 saves, done twice. MONTREAL - Defence was the hot topic for Montreal Impact this week and it was only fitting with the Columbus Crew in town. The Crew scored nine goals in three games - a pair of wins and a loss - during a recently completed three-game homestand. Now they face an Impact team that is tied with Houston with an MLS-worst 45 goals conceded this season. Listen to the match live on TSN Radio 690 Montreal tonight at 7:30pm et/4:30pm pt. The last-place Impact (4-15-5) face the fourth-place Crew (8-8-9) at Saputo Stadium on Saturday night looking to improve their overall defensive play, not just the back line anchored by veteran Matteo Ferrari. The Impact were feeling good about last week, which started with a 1-0 win at home over Chicago to end a seven-game losing run and a 3-2 victory in El Salvador in CONCACAF Champions League play. But it ended with a 4-2 defeat on the road to the New York Red Bulls that had coach Frank Klopas stressing defence at practice this week. "Weve got to keep working without the ball," said Klopas, whose team left gaping holes for the Red Bulls attack once it relinquished the lead. "The more compact we are defensively, it will make things more difficult for other teams. "Thats why, when we fell behind (to New York), it didnt play to our strengths." Red Bulls star Thierry Henrys brilliance was the main cause for that, as he erased the 1-0 lead Dilly Duka produced with his first goal for Montreal with a prescient header. Henry calmly poked in another and MLS scoring leader Bradley Wright-Phillips added two more around Andres Romeros late goal. Fatigue was a factor with the Impact playing three times in eight days, but defensive lapses have been a problem all season for Montreal. Klopas said when he was named coach last winter that the aim was to allow 10 fewer goals than the 49 conceded in 2013. That objective wont be met, and there are 10 games left in the regular season. And now they face Columbus, which has gifted nine-goal scorer Federico Higuain masterminding an attack that gets goals from many sources, including Ethan Finlay (six goals) and Justin Meram (five). There is also six-fooot-seven forward Adam Bedell to contend with.dddddddddddd. "Players like Henry and Higuain, you cant stop them, you can just try to control them," said Impact captain Patrice Bernier. "You just need to be aware of them on the field and dont let them hurt you." The Impact are 1-5-1 against the Crew, including a 2-1 loss in Columbus in July, in three MLS seasons. The teams are 1-1-1 in Montreal. The Impact hope their game is picking up as the end of the season nears. New designed player Ignacio (Nacho) Piatti was promising in his first week with the club, and 38-year-old striker Marco Di Vaio is finding his range with three goals in his last three games. With Andres Romeo, who has scored in consecutive games, having a solid season at midfield, the Impact see themselves as a better team than their record shows. "I still believe we have a really good team, we just havent got the results this year," said defender Heath Pearce. "And with 10 games remaining in the season, we want to go on a run and put up a significant amount of points." Crew defender Eric Gehrig thinks so, too. "Were not going to look at the points they have or the stats they have," Gehrig told his teams website. "Were going to look at what they have on the field. On their best day, theyre a very good team, one of the best teams in the League." While the Impact have scored only 25 goals in 24 games, second lowest ahead of Chivas USAs 21, they feel that Piattis arrival gives them a dynamic offence. "We have more attacking options, with more players who are dangerous around the goal," said Di Vaio. "The hardest part is to try to control the game now. "If we can stop the other team from scoring, we know now that we can find the goals." The Impact may have Pearce and fullback Eric Miller back from injury to give them extra options at the back. They also signed Nigerian centreback Gege Soriola this week. Romero is to play his 50th game for Montreal. The Crew lost a top player last week when Costa Rican international defender Giancarlo Gonzalez was sold to Palermo of Italys Serie-A. ' ' '