Blake Comeau scored a short-handed goal as the visiting Dallas Stars tallied four times in the second period to breeze a 4-1 victory over the Nashville Predators on Saturday.

Roope Hintz scored his team-leading 12th goal, and Andrew Cogliano and defenseman Jamie Oleksiak also tallied for the Stars, who continued to fluster the Predators after eliminating them in six games during their first-round playoff series in the spring.

Former Nashville forward Alexander Radulov notched a pair of assists, and Anton Khudobin finished with 37 saves to improve to 4-1-0 in five appearances at home this season.

Pekka Rinne was not as fortunate, as the former Vezina Trophy winner yielded four goals on 22 shots in his first start against Dallas since making 49 saves in a 2-1 overtime loss in Game 6 of the first-round series.

Saturday's contest was the first of the season series between the Central Division rivals, who will reconvene on Jan. 1 in the 2020 Winter Classic at Cotton Bowl Stadium in Dallas.

After Austin Watson deflected defenseman Dante Fabbro's shot to open the scoring early in the second period, Dallas responded with three goals in a span of 7:32 to take control of the game.

Predators captain Roman Josi was unable to hold the blue line in the offensive zone, with the puck bouncing off the boards for Comeau to skate in and beat Rinne at 4:46 of the second period. The goal was Comeau's fourth of the season.

Dallas seized the advantage just under two minutes later after Justin Dowling's shot from the point hit Nashville defenseman Dan Hamhuis in front. Hintz alertly located the loose puck and wired a shot from the slot past Rinne.

Oleksiak deftly shuffled from his forehead to backhand before tucking the puck past Rinne for his first goal of the season at 12:18. The goal was Oleksiak's first since Nov. 5, 2018, when he scored for Pittsburgh in a 5-1 loss to New Jersey.

Cogliano capped the second-period uprising by cleaning up his own rebound nearly four minutes later for his second goal of the season.

--Field Level Media