Hats off to Jason:
Arnott hat trick grounds Ducks

Thursday, November 17, 2005

Anaheim goalie Ilya Bryzgalov had an answer for just about everything Dallas threw at him Wednesday night except for Jason Arnott, who notched a hat trick to lead the Stars to a 4-2 win over the Mighty Ducks at the Arrowhead Pond.

"Sometimes you are in the right spot at the right time," Arnott told the Sports Network. "Bill [Guerin], myself and Brenden [Morrow] have been playing for a little while and getting to know each other and it has been great."

Morrow had the primary assist all three Arnott goals, including a key shorthanded goal that tied the game in the third period

Jere Lehtinen scored the game-winner in the third period for the Stars, who their third straight game and moved into a first place tie with the Los Angeles Kings in the Pacific Division. The Stars, who got a 30-save performance from goalie Marty Turco, ended their road trip with a 3-1-0 record and improved to 7-2-0 on the road this season.

The loss was the sixth straight for the Mighty Ducks, who had traded away star center Sergei Fedorov on Tuesday.

"It was a good win, kind of a funny game," Stars coach Dave Tippett told the Sports Network. "Both teams had lots of chances, both goaltenders were making some big saves and we were fortunate to get a couple in the third to take the lead."

The Stars took the lead 5:30 into the contest when they scored a power play for the tenth consecutive game. Brenden Morrow busted down the left side and centered a pass from the bottom of the left faceoff circle to Arnott, who knocked the puck in from the top of the crease.

The Ducks pulled even less than five minutes later when they scored off a rush. Scott Niedermayer put a shot on net and Travis Moen scored off a rebound at the 10:15 mark.

Five minutes later the Ducks took the lead with a power play goal. Rob Niedermayer skated into the Dallas zone and dropped off the puck for his brother Scott, who skated to the bottom of the right faceoff circle and beat Turco with a backhand shot.

The Stars went on a three-minute power play early in the second period after Moen picked up a major penalty for checking Sergei Zubov from behind. Arnott went after Moen and picked up a roughing minor, leaving Dallas with minutes of power play time that they didn't score on. . Zubov left the ice, but did return for the second period.

The second period featured lots chances, but no scoring due to great goaltending by both Turco and Anaheim netminder Ilya Bryzgalov.

Turco's best moments came while the Ducks were on a power play, including a little less than a minute with a two-man advantage. He came up with a several nice stops, including a nice pad save on a blast from Ducks forward Petr Sykora.

Bryzgalov made a sharp pad save on a slap from the slot by Nathan Perrott, who had a breakaway. He also made a nice sprawling save on a point blank chance by Jussi Jokinen. He then came up big with the Stars on a five-on three power play late in the second period, including stops on a Mike Modano one-timer and a blast from Arnott.

The Stars couldn't cash in on more extended power play time early in the third period, but they did get the equalizer while on the penalty kill.

After an Anaheim turnover over at the Dallas blue line, Morrow and Arnott raced into the Anaheim zone and Morrow sent a pass to the front of the net, where Arnott put it past Bryzgalov at the 8:17 mark.

Exactly one minute later the Stars would score what would prove to be the game-winner. After Stephane Robidas put a shot on net from the point, Jere Lehtinen scored on the rebound for his tenth goal of the season to make it a 3-2 game.

Arnott rounded out the scoring when took a pass from Morrow and beat Bryzgalov with a hard shot from the right faceoff circle with 1:21 left in the game.

"Bryzgalov gave us a chance to win," Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle told the Sports Network "It's unfortunate the last goal went in because he was outstanding prior to that. We called upon our goaltender to many times. We made some soft plays to let them back into the game."

Notes: Stars defenseman John Klemm left the game in the first period with a lower body injury and did not return.

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