The Dallas Stars have been finding a way to win games and collect points, and as boring as that sounds sometimes, it paid off again Tuesday night.

Facing a crippled Vancouver Canucks team, the Stars had to go to their sixth shooter in the shootout but came out with a 3-2 victory that pushed their winning streak to four games and their record to 32-20-5.

"It's true what Tip [coach Dave Tippett] says about wanting to do more, but for us, it's recognizing what kind of game we were in," said goalie Marty Turco, who stopped 22 shots and improved to 19-7 in shootouts.

"You have to keep pushing ahead, and never feel that you want to do more. It is human nature, but it's good experience for this team. You've got to continue to learn and gain confidence in these typesgames."

The Canucks were without five of their regular defensemen – Willie Mitchell (back), Kevin Bieksa (calf), Luka Krajicek (shoulder), Mattias Ohlund (personal) and Aaron Miller (foot) all missed the game. Vancouver filled the lineup with a mostly minor league defense, but the group played well and the Stars failed to put enough pressure on to see if it would crack.

Dallas waded into the game – neither team was able to put a shot on goal in the first seven minutes – then watched as Vancouver took the lead on a power-play goal at the 12:50 mark of the first period.

Dallas saw an early end to its run of 22 consecutive penalty kills as Markus Naslund scored. The top-ranked penalty kill in the league was foiled when Mason Raymond made a nice touch pass to Naslund in the slot, and he one-timed a shot over Turco.

But the Stars bounced back and scored a gritty goal at 16:40 of the first period to tie the score. Mike Ribeiro made a nice play along the boards to get the puck to Brenden Morrow, and Morrow uncorked a one-timer from the left circle. The puck went sailing toward a scrum at the net, and deflected in off the skate of Vancouver's Alexandre Burrows. Jeff Halpern had created the scrum by driving hard to the net and pulling Burrows in front of Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo.

Dallas then capitalized on its power play in the second period, as Morrow made a slick backhand pass into the slot and Jere Lehtinen deflected the puck between Luongo's legs for a 2-1 lead at the 7:11 mark.

"Same old Lehts, he does it all," Morrow said of Lehtinen's first goal since returning from a sports hernia that kept him out for 33 games. "He looks like he hasn't missed a step."

The Canucks made a spirited stand to earn a point in the standings. Naslund added his second goal of the game and Luongo then stopped 13 shots in the third period – 32 for the game. That forced the shootout, where the Stars improved their shootout record, the NHL's best, to 26-7.

Jussi Jokinen scored first for Dallas, and Naslund scored for Vancouver. Morrow then put in a wrister as the sixth shooter and Turco came up with a stop to give Dallas two points in the standings.

"Right now, everybody in the Western Conference is so tight that it's important to play a full 60 minutes and get whatever points we can," Ribeiro said.

The Stars have won seven consecutive regular season games against the Canucks at American Airlines Center. It is the second longest active home winning streak against one opponent in the NHL.

"We'll take the points and run," Stars coach Dave Tippett said.