Stars top Preds, Benn takes scoring title

Dallas, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - Jamie Benn picked up four points to capture the NHL's scoring championship, as Dallas claimed a season-ending 4-1 victory over Nashville at American Airlines Center.

Benn's second career hat trick plus a helper gave him 87 points, vaulting past Penguins captain Sidney Crosby (84) and Islanders center John Tavares (86) for the Art Ross Trophy. He became the first member of the Minnesota/Dallas franchise to finish as the league's top point producer.

Cody Eakin added a goal and one assist while Jhonas Enroth picked up 24 saves for the Stars (41-31-10), who ended the season with four straight wins.

"It's a little bittersweet, because obviously we're not in the playoffs. But it was pretty special to see your teammates work so hard for you," Benn said.

Filip Forsberg notched the lone score for the playoff-bound Predators (47-25-10), with Carter Hutton stopping 21 shots in the loss.

Nashville finished second in the Central Division and will take on third-place Chicago in the first round.

Benn's power-play tally at 13:33 of the opening period put the Stars on top for good, as he redirected a John Klingberg shot past Hutton from the left wing.

Enroth made 11 saves in the second period to preserve that one-goal edge and seven more in the final 20 minutes.

Benn then casually flipped a puck from his own defensive zone past Preds defenseman Seth Jones and into the net to cap his trifecta and make it 3-1 with 2:05 on the clock.

Eakin completed the scoring by tapping home a Benn dish with nine seconds to go.

"It's not at all something that we're going to dwell on," Predators forward Matt Cullen said of his club's six-game slide to end the regular season. "There's things we can learn from it. "We need to leave this one behind us immediately and start changing our mind-set."

Benn put the hosts on the board at 7:35 by finishing off a give-and-go from Eakin, and Forsberg equalized for the Preds by deflecting a Ryan Ellis drive just under four minutes later.

Game Notes

The Stars played without forward Tyler Seguin, who was scratched after being late to a Friday practice session ... Dallas missed out on the postseason for the sixth time in the last seven seasons ... Nashville's 47 wins places fourth in team history, after a 51-win campaign in 2006-07, 49 wins the year prior and 48 victories in 2011-12.