Stars 3, Senators 2 .

DALLAS — Eric Nystrom scored the tiebreaking goal with 2:20 left and the Dallas Stars rallied for a 3-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night.

Nystrom took possession of the puck behind the Ottawa net, drifted to the left circle and fired a shot past goalie Craig Anderson for his ninth goal of the season, one short of matching his career high.

Milan Michalek had given the Senators a 2-1 advantage at 11:42 of the final period.

Daniel Alfredsson took a shot from the right point that rebounded off goalie Andrew Raycroft to the left circle. Michalek beat two Stars to the puck and then beat Raycroft with a shot for his team-high 15th goal.

Radek Dvorak and Steve Ott also scored for Dallas, and Raycroft made 33 saves.

Erik Condra had Ottawa's other goal.

Dvorak got Dallas even at 2-2 with 5:34 left in the third period when he converted Mike Ribeiro's centring pass for his third of the season.

Ott added a power-play goal for Dallas, and Raycroft made a glove save on a point-blank attempt by Alfredsson just before the final buzzer.

Raycroft, filling in for injured regular Kari Lehtonen (groin), made back-to-back starts for the first time this season.

Dallas is 4-1-1 in its last six games.

Anderson made 29 saves for the Senators.

Condra gave Ottawa a 1-0 lead when he worked a 2-on-1 with Jared Cowen and connected on a wrister from the slot at 7:07 for his third of the season.

Ott's deflection of Toby Petersen's pass toward the net tied it at 1-1 at 9:38 of the first period on Dallas' second power play. It was Ott's fifth goal.

Dallas had been 0-for-22 with the man advantage before Ott scored.

NOTES: Ottawa D Filip Kuba was scratched after sustaining an undisclosed upper body injury in Tuesday's 6-4 win over the Winnipeg Jets ... Senators RW Chris Neil missed his ninth straight game (sprained ankle) but is practising with the team and close to returning ... In addition to Lehtonen, the Stars are without captain Brenden Morrow (multiple injuries), D Alex Goligoski (broken thumb), D Trevor Daley (back) and forward Adam Burish (broken hand) ... Attendance continues to lag. The crowd was announced as 10,490, but there were several thousand fewer in the seats ... The teams met for the only time this season ... Dallas is 4-1-1 in its last six against Ottawa ... The Senators close out their three-game road trip Saturday in Washington against the Capitals (7 p.m., CBC, Team 1200).