The waving off of Ryan Smyth's apparent game-tying goal with five seconds left because of ref Mick McGeough's botched hand pass call overshadowed what was a very solid effort by the Dallas Stars.

But the call, which came with just seconds left and involved a goal that would have sent the game to overtime, was the story of the game.

Oilers coach Craig MacTavish labeled the call "retarded" and referred to it as McGeough's "spastic" reaction in the corner.

For his part, McGeough said it was simply the wrong call.

"It was a blown call on my part," McGeough told an Edmonton Journal reporter. "It was poor judgment on my part. I thought he had his hand on the puck on the face-off but it was his stick. My judgment was poor on the play."

Turco said he heard the whistle signaling a dead play.

"From my angle I heard the whistle as Jarrett [Stoll] was shooting," said Turco. "I won't say I gave up, but I heard the whistle.... they blew it down for what ever reason and it is no goal."

Turco went to to say: "It's a tough break for them. Who knows what would have happened? But the whistle went as he was shooting. I had already reacted to the whistle. I could have smothered it or swatted it away. I'm sure they are disappointed but by no means should that be thought of as a possible goal."

But that call wasn't the only one that had ticked off the Oilers. They felt Eric Lindros had interfered with Edmonton goalie Dwayne Roloson on the Stars first goal. Lindros ran into Roloson, who lost his stick just as Brenden Morrow's shot approached the net.

When a guy comes in the crease and takes me out of the play and they score a goal, it's a no goal and a penalty. It was blatant," said Rolson.

Lindros' take?

"The butt-end of his stick got caught up in my shirt. I was well outside of his crease," said Lindros.

While the Oilers may have gotten a couple of bad breaks and lost a point, the Stars played well enough to get two points.

"We played a very good road game tonight, controlled the game and had everybody involved," said Stars coach Dave Tippett.

Once again their penalty kill came up big. It was a perfect 5-5 on the night and came up with a key stop in the second period.

With Edmonton having just scored to make it a 2-1 game and on a five-on-three power play, the Stars PK was superb. It kept Edmonton off the board, took away the Oilers' momentum and quieted the crowd. It was one pivotal moment in the game not involving a call.

The Stars got a solid game out of the line of Niklas Hagman, Stu Barnes and Matthew Barnaby. Turco made some big saves at key times.

It was simply a solid game overshadowed by controversy. The Stars can take the two points and move on to Vancouver.

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