Boston had trouble matching Dallas's speed and quickness all game.

The Stars consistently got to loose pucks first and kept the Bruins on their heels for large stretches, most notably during the second period when they effectively put the game out of reach with three goals to build a 5-1 lead.

It was deja vu all over again for the Bruins in the first period.

For the second straight game, Boston fell behind, 2-0 and lost one of its defensemen to injury -- this time Brandon Carlo -- in the first 20 minutes.

The big difference from Tuesday night in St. Louis is the Bruins cut their deficit in half before the first intermission.

The Stars got on the board at 1:09 when Mason Marchment got a step on Charlie McAvoy, who had stumbled, and beat the Bruins defenseman to the puck behind the net.

Marchment curled around and left the puck for Matt Duchene, who one-timed a missile to the top shelf past Jeremy Swayman's blocker for his ninth of the season.

Swayman kept it that way for a bit, making dandy saves on back-to-back one-timers from Logan Stankoven and Marchment.

The Bruins generated some good chances, with McAvoy setting up Charlie Coyle for a one-timer that Jake Oettinger got the right pad on, and a Cole Koepke wrister off a break-in that Oettinger blockered away.

Dallas doubled its lead on Evgenii Dadonov's penalty shot.

Dadonov had a partial breakaway and Mason Lohrei tied him up and clipped the puck away but was called for the infraction.

Boston had a couple of chances to strike back quickly. First, it was Lohrei sending a centering pass through the crease that David Pastrnak just missed tipping it. Pastrnak retrieved the puck and sent it to Pavel Zacha, who landed a shot on Oettinger.

Swayman made a big glove save on a Tyler Seguin labeled backhander that many in the crowd were celebrating before the Bruins goalie snatched it.

The Bruins lost Carlo when Stars captain Jamie Benn crunched him from behind and into the boards behind Swayman's net.

As Carlo tried to collect himself, Nikita Zadorov went after Benn.

After some sweater tug-o-war that included Benn swiping Zadorov's helmet off, the big Bruins defenseman got loose and landed some powerful overhand rights that buckled Benn. The two had previously fought when Zadorov was with the Blackhawks.

Carlo gingerly made his way to the locker room with the medical staff.

Benn got the extra two minutes for boarding, but the Bruins couldn't crack Oettinger.

Boston broke the ice when Coyle clicked for his third of the season.

Lohrei led a rush through center ice before pushing it to Trent Frederic. The winger weaved through traffic and relayed it to Coyle, who popped it in at the far post.

Brad Marchand had a terrific chance to tie it before the buzzer, but Oettinger snagged his wrister.

The Bruins got a huge boost to start the second when Carlo returned to make the blue line corps whole.

Boston earned the first power play of the second when Roope Hintz spilled Pastrnak, but the visitors couldn't cash in.

The Stars had the Bruins on their heels for much of the second, with Swayman keeping Boston in it with his glove work.

It seemed inevitable Dallas would increase its lead, and it finally happened with a two-goal blitz late in the period.

First, Stankoven collected a loose puck that hit a mass of bodies in front of Swayman and buried it.

Just 1:42 later, Oskar Back scored the first goal of his career, one-handing a relay from Colin Blackwell over Swayman's right shoulder to make it 4-1.