Third period surge:
Stars rally past Canucks 3-1

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

It took the Stars more than 52 minutes, but they finally solved Canucks goalie Alexander Auld Wednesday night. In fact, they solved him three times in a 5:17 span of the third period to rally for a 3-1 win over Vancouver at the American Airlines Center.

The win snapped a two-game losing streak for the Stars, who got goals from Steve Ott, Jason Arnott and Mike Modano. Marty Turco made 20 saves for his 20th win over the season.

"It was kind of a mucky game there for a couple of periods," Stars center Stu Barnes told the Associated Press. "We worked hard but didn't have a lot to show for it. Zubie (Sergei Zubov0  had a great shot (deflected in by Ott) and we all fed off that. It got better and better after that."

For the Canucks it was their eighth loss in the last nine games as they fell to 0-3-0 on their current road trip.

"I thought the effort was there until the time they tied it up," Vancouver captain Markus Naslund told the AP. "It's difficult to take something positive out of anything right now the way we're struggling."

The Stars entered the third period down 1-0 despite outshooting the 24-15 through the first 40 minutes. But the Stars finally got to Auld starting at the 12:17 mark of the third.

After picking off a pass along the boards Sergei Zubov fired a shot from the point that Ott deflected into the net to tie the game at 1-1.

Less than a minute-and-a-half later the Stars took the lead. After taking a drop pass from Brenden Morrow, Arnott came out from behind the net and fired a shot through traffic that beat Auld at 13:42.

Modano sealed the deal for the Stars when he picked off a Sami Salo pass in the neutral zone, skated into the Canucks zone and beat Auld with wrist shot from the top of the right faceoff circle at the 17:34 mark of the third.

The Canucks lone goal of the game came at 8:31 of the second while they were on a the power play. Brendan Morrison's blast from the left faceoff circle beat Turco, who was screened by Vancouver forward Todd Bertuzzi.

The Canucks outshot the Stars 11-7 in the first period, but neither team scored. Vancouver had two power plays to one for Dallas, but the Stars got a full two minute power play to start the second period.

Notes: Stars forward Stu Barnes, who had been out with an injury, returned to the lineup Wednesday night. 

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