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Stephan's brilliant performance gets Stars a point Wednesday, October 17, 2007 The Dallas Stars were a team under under siege in Chicago Saturday night, but 23-year-old goalie Tobias Stephan held the fort. Stephan made 38 saves in his NHL debut to help the Stars at least get to overtime, where they eventually lost to the Chicago Blackhawks 2-1. "Toby played a hell of a game and it's unfortunate we couldn’t get the win for him,” said Stars coach Dave Tippett. "I felt bad for him." Stephan, filling in because Marty Turco had some stiffness in his leg after Friday's game, was brilliant, holding down the fort until the Blackhawks scored with just 1.5 seconds remaining in regulation and on their 39th shot to end the Swiss goalie's shutout bid and tie the game at 1-1. With the Stars holding onto a 1-0 lead and Chicago goalie Patrick Lalime on the bench for an extra attacker, Jeff Halpern took a holding penalty with 45 seconds left in the game. Just 18 seconds later Mike Modano took a hooking penalty, giving the Blackhawks a six-on-three skater advantage. And it took a Jonathan Toews desperation shot from the slot that was going wide of the net bouncing off Robert Lang to finally beat Stephan and force the overtime. "It was really frustrating to be so close, only 1.5 seconds,'' Stephan said. "I saw it late, but it was off net, but But I never expected it to hit him in the pants. Chicago then scored on a four-on-three power play in the overtime when a Patrick Kane deflected off Jason Williams and past Stephan at the 43 second mark to give the Blackhawks the extra point. "I might have played a good game, but we didn't win and that's what's important," said Stephan. Brenden Morrow scored the lone goal for the Stars, who were outshot 40-18 on the night and dropped their second straight game (0-0-2) to fall to 2-2-2 on the season. The Blackhawks pulled off their second straight come-from-behind win. They rallied to beat the Red Wings in Detroit Friday night, overcoming a 2-0 deficit to win 3-2. "We kept shooting and shooting and shooting, and knew eventually one would go in," Williams said afterward. "You never want to give up. It was a good character win, and good for our fans to see us win like that." The Stars put themselves and Stephan in a bind early, taking three penalties in the first 3:34 of the game. That gave Chicago 5:11 of power play time, including two five-on-three advantages totaling 59 seconds. But Stephan, although looking shaky at times, was up to the task, making seven stops on power play shots and 13 total in the first period alone to help the Stars head to the first intermission with a 1-0 lead. The Stars struck on their only power play of the period at 13:48 when Morrow scored off the rebound of a point blank Niklas Hagman backhand shot. Stephan made six saves and the Stars killed off three more Chicago power plays in the second period to maintain their 1-0 lead after 40 minutes. Morrow came close to extending the lead to 2-0 late in the second, but Blackhawks goalie Patrick Lalime made a great pad stop to keep it a 1-0 game heading into the third. Stephan made 19 more saves in the third, including some great ones in succession at one point, before the puck bounced off Lang and into the net to tie the game.
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