Robertson scores twice, Stars beat Canadiens 7-0 for fourth straight win

MONTREAL (AP) — Jason Robertson had two goals and an assist, Casey DeSmith stopped 24 shots for his first shutout of the season, and the Dallas Stars beat the Montreal Canadiens 7-0 on Thursday night.

Wyatt Johnston, Esa Lindell, Tyler Seguin, Colin Blackwell and Alexander Petrovic also scored for Dallas, which won its fourth straight game. Radek Faksa had three assists and Mikko Rantanen added two.

DeSmith had 14 saves in the first period, three in the second and seven in the third to get his 13th career shutout.

Jakub Dobes allowed five goals on 13 shots through two periods and Sam Montembeault had four saves in the third for the Canadiens. Montreal has lost two straight four in its last five.

The Stars won their seventh straight visit to the Bell Centre, dating back to Oct. 30, 2018.

The Canadiens controlled much of the first period, but Johnston opened the scoring on the power play with 5:39 remaining, finishing a tick-tack-toe play with Roope Hintz and Rantanen.

The Stars then scored even-strength goals from Lindell, Seguin and two from Robertson in the second period to grab a 5-0 lead.

Robertson scored twice in 99 seconds, beating Dobes to the backhand before burying a wrist shot through a crowd as some fans headed for the exits with 3:11 remaining in the middle period.

Canadiens forward Alex Newhook exited with an apparent right leg injury after crashing feet-first into the end boards after he was tripped up by Stars defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin early in the second period.

Shortly after Newhook’s injury, Robertson sent Seguin on a breakaway with a heads-up breakout pass behind the Canadiens’ defensemen to make it 3-0 at 7:10.

Stars: Host Philadelphia on Saturday.

Canadiens: Host Boston on Saturday.

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

Montreal Canadiens' Ivan Demidov (93) breaks his stick as he is checked by Dallas Stars' Oskar Back (10) during first-period NHL hockey game action in Montreal, Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)

Dallas Stars' Tyler Seguin (91) scores on Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobes (75) during second period NHL hockey action in Montreal on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)

Dallas Stars' Colin Blackwell (15) scores against Montreal Canadiens goaltender Sam Montembeault (35) during third-period NHL hockey game action in Montreal, Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)

Dallas Stars goaltender Casey Desmith (centre) is congratulated by teammates on his shutout win over the Montreal Canadiens during third period NHL hockey action in Montreal on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)

Dallas Stars' Alexander Petrovic (28) celebrates after his goal over the Montreal Canadiens with teammates Lian Bichsel (6), Nathan Bastian (11) and Colin Blackwell (15) during third-period NHL hockey game action in Montreal, Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — An ailing astronaut returned to Earth with three others on Thursday, ending their space station mission more than a month early in NASA’s first medical evacuation.

SpaceX guided the capsule to a middle-of-the-night splashdown in the Pacific near San Diego, less than 11 hours after the astronauts exited the International Space Station.

“It’s so good to be home,” said NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, the capsule commander.

It was an unexpected finish to a mission that began in August and left the orbiting lab with only one American and two Russians on board. NASA and SpaceX said they would try to move up the launch of a fresh crew of four; liftoff is currently targeted for mid-February.

Cardman and NASA’s Mike Fincke were joined on the return by Japan’s Kimiya Yui and Russia’s Oleg Platonov. Officials have refused to identify the astronaut who had the health problem or explain what happened, citing medical privacy.

While the astronaut was stable in orbit, NASA wanted them back on Earth as soon as possible to receive proper care and diagnostic testing. The entry and splashdown required no special changes or accommodations, officials said, and the recovery ship had its usual allotment of medical experts on board. It was not immediately known when the astronauts would fly from California to their home base in Houston. Platonov’s return to Moscow was also unclear.

NASA stressed repeatedly over the past week that this was not an emergency. The astronaut fell sick or was injured on Jan. 7, prompting NASA to call off the next day’s spacewalk by Cardman and Fincke, and ultimately resulting in the early return. It was the first time NASA cut short a spaceflight for medical reasons. The Russians had done so decades ago.

The space station has gotten by with three astronauts before, sometimes even with just two. NASA said it will be unable to perform a spacewalk, even for an emergency, until the arrival of the next crew, which has two Americans, one French and one Russian astronaut.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

This screengrab from video provided by NASA TV shows the SpaceX Dragon departing from the International Space Station shortly after undocking with four NASA Crew-11 members inside on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (NASA via AP)

This photo provided by NASA shows clockwise from bottom left are, NASA astronaut Mike Fincke, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov, NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui gathering for a crew portrait wearing their Dragon pressure suits during a suit verification check inside the International Space Station’s Kibo laboratory module, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (NASA via AP)

This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows recovery vessels approaching the NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 capsule to evacuate one of the crew members after they re-entered the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)

This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows the NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 members re entering the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)

This screengrab from video provided by NASA shows the NASA's SpaceX Crew-11 members re entering the earth in a middle-of-the-night splashdown near San Diego, Calif., Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (NASA via AP)