Seguin and Duchene have a goal and 2 assists each and Stars down Bruins 5-2

BOSTON (AP) — Casey DeSmith made 25 saves, Tyler Seguin and Matt Duchene had a goal and two assists each and the Dallas Stars handed the Boston Bruins their third straight loss, 5-2 on Thursday night.

The Stars also got goals from Jason Robertson, Logan Stankoven and Roope Hintz. Mason Marchment had two assists as Dallas scored four unanswered goals after David Pastrnak gave Boston a 1-0 lead at 11:57 of the first period.

Jeremy Swayman made 27 saves for the Bruins, who cut the Stars’ lead to 4-2 on Justin Brazeau’s goal at 10:41 of the second period. Still down two goals with time winding down in the third period, Boston pulled Swayman.

Hintz supplied the finishing touch with an empty-netter with 2:02 remaining.

Stars: A Dallas team that finished with a Western Conference-best 114 points last season won four straight to begin the season before dropping two of three prior to facing Boston. Featuring the NHL’s top penalty kill unit, the Stars were successful on three of Boston’s four extra-skater opportunities.

Bruins: Pastrnak returned to the scoring column after getting held off the scoresheet and posting a combined minus-four in Boston’s previous two games.

Seguin’s second-period goal capped off the Stars’ dominance on the power play and epitomized the problems the Bruins ran into on the penalty kill.

A Bruins team that entered Thursday’s game ranked second in the NHL in penalty minutes and allowed six opponent power-play goals through seven games allowed the Stars to score three times on the man advantage over a nine-minute span in the second period.

Stars: Return home to host Chicago on Saturday before heading to Finland to play Florida twice.

Bruins: Host Toronto in the middle game of a three-game homestand on Saturday night.

This story has been updated to correct that Dallas plays one game at home before playing two in Finland.

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Dallas Stars center Logan Stankoven (11) hits the puck past Boston Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman (1) to score in the second period of an NHL hockey game, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Dallas Stars defenseman Thomas Harley, front right, and Boston Bruins center Morgan Geekie, back left, pursue the puck in the second period of an NHL hockey game, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Boston Bruins center Charlie Coyle (13) and Dallas Stars defenseman Thomas Harley (55) slam into the boards in the first period of an NHL hockey game, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Boston Bruins center Morgan Geekie (39) and Dallas Stars center Logan Stankoven (11) pursue the puck in the second period of an NHL hockey game, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Dallas Stars center Roope Hintz (24) is unable to get the puck past Boston Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman (1) in the second period of an NHL hockey game, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Dallas Stars center Logan Stankoven (11) celebrates with left wing Mason Marchment, top left, and center Matt Duchene (95) after scoring in front of Boston Bruins defenseman Hampus Lindholm, upper right, and left wing Cole Koepke (45) in the second period of an NHL hockey game, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

Dallas Stars center Matt Duchene (95) celebrates with teammates after scoring in the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Boston Bruins, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024, in Boston. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump and top Iranian officials exchanged dueling threats Friday as widening protests swept across parts of the Islamic Republic, further escalating tensions between the countries after America bombed Iranian nuclear sites in June.

At least eight people have been killed so far in violence surrounding the demonstrations, which were sparked in part by the collapse of Iran’s rial currency but have increasingly seen crowds chanting anti-government slogans.

The protests, now in their sixth day, have become the biggest in Iran since 2022, when the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody triggered nationwide demonstrations. However, the protests have yet to be as widespread and intense as those surrounding the death of Amini, who was detained over not wearing her hijab, or headscarf, to the liking of authorities.

Trump initially wrote on his Truth Social platform, warning Iran that if it “violently kills peaceful protesters,” the United States “will come to their rescue.”

“We are locked and loaded and ready to go,” Trump wrote, without elaborating.

Ali Larijani, a former parliament speaker who serves as the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, alleged that Israel and the U.S. were stoking the demonstrations. He offered no evidence to support the allegation, which Iranian officials have repeatedly made during years of protests sweeping the country.

“Trump should know that intervention by the U.S. in the domestic problem corresponds to chaos in the entire region and the destruction of the U.S. interests,” Larijani wrote on X, which the Iranian government blocks. “The people of the U.S. should know that Trump began the adventurism. They should take care of their own soldiers.”

Larijani’s remarks likely referenced America’s wide military footprint in the region. Iran in June attacked Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar after the U.S. strikes on three nuclear sites during Israel's 12-day war on the Islamic Republic. No one was injured, though a missile did hit a structure there.

As of Friday, no major changes had been made to U.S. troop levels in the Middle East or their preparations following Trump’s social media posts, said a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military plans.

In a letter late Friday to United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres and the U.N. Security Council, Iran's envoy asked the world body to condemn the rhetoric and reaffirm the country's "inherent right to defend its sovereignty, territorial integrity, and national security, and to protect its people against any foreign interference.”

“The United States of America bears full responsibility for any consequences arising from these unlawful threats and any ensuing escalation," said Amir Saeid Iravani, Iranian ambassador to the U.N.

Ali Shamkhani, an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who previously was the council’s secretary for years, separately warned that “any interventionist hand that gets too close to the security of Iran will be cut.”

Trump's online message marked a direct sign of support for the demonstrators, something other American presidents have avoided out of concern that activists would be accused of working with the West. During Iran's 2009 Green Movement demonstrations, President Barack Obama held back from publicly backing the protests — something he said in 2022 “was a mistake.”

But such White House support still carries a risk.

“Though the grievances that fuel these and past protests are due to the Iranian government’s own policies, they are likely to use President Trump’s statement as proof that the unrest is driven by external actors,” said Naysan Rafati, an analyst at the International Crisis Group.

“But using that as a justification to crack down more violently risks inviting the very U.S. involvement Trump has hinted at,” he added.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei recently cited a list of Tehran’s longtime grievances regarding U.S. intervention, including a CIA-backed coup in 1953, the downing of a passenger jet in 1988 and the strikes in June.

Protests continued Friday in various cities in the country, even as life largely continued unaffected in the capital, Tehran. Demonstrations have reached over 100 locations in 22 of Iran's 31 provinces, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported. It said the death toll in the demonstrations rose to eight with the death of a demonstrator in Marvdasht in Iran's Fars province.

Demonstrators took to the streets in Zahedan in Iran's restive Sistan and Baluchestan province on the border with Pakistan. The burials of several demonstrators killed in the protests also took place Friday, sparking marches.

Videos purported to show mourners chasing off security force members who attended the funeral of 21-year-old Amirhessam Khodayari. He was killed Wednesday in Kouhdasht, over 400 kilometers (250 miles) southwest of Tehran in Iran's Lorestan province.

Footage also showed Khodayari's father denying his son served in the all-volunteer Basij force of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, as authorities claimed. The semiofficial Fars news agency later reported that there were now questions about the government's claims that he served.

Iran’s civilian government under reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian has been trying to signal it wants to negotiate with protesters. However, Pezeshkian has acknowledged there is not much he can do as Iran’s rial has rapidly depreciated, with $1 now costing some 1.4 million rials. That sparked the initial protests.

The protests, taking root in economic issues, have heard demonstrators chant against Iran’s theocracy as well. Tehran has had little luck in propping up its economy in the months since the June war.

Iran recently said it was no longer enriching uranium at any site in the country, trying to signal to the West that it remains open to potential negotiations over its atomic program to ease sanctions. However, those talks have yet to happen as Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have warned Tehran against reconstituting its atomic program.

Associated Press writers Konstantin Toropin in Washington and Farnoush Amiri in New York contributed to this report.

A woman shows a portrait of the late commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard expeditionary Quds Force, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. drone attack in 2020 in Iraq, on her smartphone during a ceremony commemorating his death anniversary at the Imam Khomeini grand mosque in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

People wave Iranian flags as one of them holds up a poster of the late commander of the Iran's Revolutionary Guard expeditionary Quds Force, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. drone attack in 2020 in Iraq, during a ceremony commemorating his death anniversary at the Imam Khomeini grand mosque in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

This combo shows President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025, in Palm Beach, Fla. and Iranian Secretary of Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Bilal Hussein)