DETROIT -- The Dallas Stars are off to their best start in franchise history.

Left winger Patrick Sharp and center Tyler Seguin had a goal and an assist each to lead Dallas to a 4-1 win against the Detroit Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena on Sunday afternoon.

Right winger Valeri Nichushkin and center Cody Eakin also scored for Dallas, which won its third straight and is 12-3-0. It is the Stars' best 15-game start in franchise history. The previous record, according to STATS, was 10-3-2 in 1980-81, when they were the Minnesota North Stars.

"We wanted to get off to a good start and we have and we'll enjoy it for a while. And we'll put it behind us in an hour," Dallas coach Lindy Ruff said.

Stars goaltender Kari Lehtonen made 21 saves.

Right winger Gustav Nyquist scored for Detroit (7-6-1), which had its three-game winning streak snapped.

"I thought we started fine, and then I thought we let

the momentum get away from us a little bit," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "I thought there was opportunities even in the first to hit the net. The shots were 15-8 (after the first period); I think they should have been 15-12. I just think we've got to hit the net way more."

Detroit goaltender Jimmy Howard made 20 saves before leaving with 12:51 left in the third period after taking a knee to the head by the Stars center Jason Spezza during a goal-mouth scramble. Howard was replaced by Petr Mrazek, who made two saves.

Blashill said that Howard did not go through the concussion protocol.

"He has some contact issues from being bumped in the head," Blashill said.

He added Howard was fine and wanted to go back into the game.

Sharp's power-play goal gave the Stars a 1-0 lead 7:22 into the game, 18 seconds after Detroit center Dylan Larkin went off for interference. Sharp beat Howard with a one-timer from the bottom of the right circle for his sixth goal and second in two games.

"It wasn't the prettiest game on our side, but we got an early lead and we hung on," Sharp said. "We won a few battles and our goaltender played well and we limited chances."

His goal came off a pass from defenseman John Klingberg.

"I got a lot of room to move on the blue line. I wanted to shoot the puck, but they had guys in the lane," Klingberg said.

Nichushkin made it 2-0 with 4:41 left in the first period when he put in his own rebound. It was his first goal, in his 100th game. It also was his first goal since March 28, 2014. A hip injury limited Nichushkin to eight games last season.

"How I was celebrating, it spoke for itself. It was a big relief," Nichushkin said through an interpreter.

Nyquist scored a power-play goal with 27 seconds left in the first period to make it 2-1. He redirected defenseman Niklas Kronwall's slap pass past Lehtonen. It was Nyquist's sixth goal.

"Obviously, when Nyquist scored that goal at the end of the second it was a big goal for us, and then we played pretty good hockey last two periods," Detroit captain and center Henrik Zetterberg said. "Seems like whoever got the puck in the opposite end created a lot of chances."

Lehtonen stopped a tip attempt from in front off the rush by Detroit defenseman Brendan Smith with eight minutes left in the first period.

Each team had just three shots on goal in a scoreless second period.

Lehtonen made a glove save on defenseman Mike Green's wrist shot from the high slot off the rush with 3:40 left in the third period, and the score remained 2-1.

Seguin and Eakin added empty-net goals in the final 90 seconds with Detroit pushing to close the gap.

NOTES: Detroit D Mike Green returned after missing six games with a shoulder injury. ... Dallas LW Patrick Sharp was in the lineup after an undisclosed injury sustained Friday as he scored the winning goal against Carolina. He had been doubtful. ... The Red Wings were without C Pavel Datsyuk (ankle), RW Johan Franzen (concussion-like symptoms), C Brad Richards (back), D Kyle Quincey (ankle) and F Landon Ferraro (lower body). ... Datsyuk said he was about a week away from making his season debut. ... Stars GM Jim Nill was formerly Detroit's long-time assistant general manager. ... The Red Wings recalled C Andreas Athanasiou from their AHL affiliate in Grand Rapids and he made his NHL debut.