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Stars open strong at home, top Bruins 4-1 Wednesday, October 17, 2007 Two of the players who struggled in the Dallas Stars opening night loss in Denver on Wednesday delivered key performances in Friday's successful home opener. Sergei Zubov had a goal and an assist and goalie Marty Turco stopped 24 of 25 shots as the Stars beat the Bruins 4-1 at the American Airlines Center. "Just like the other night there are some positives to build on and some things we need to work on still" said Stars coach Dave Tippett. "I thought Turco had a bounce back game for us, a solid game." Captain Brenden Morrow had a goal and an assist and Joel Lundqvist and Niklas Hagman also scored goals for the Stars. Rookie defenseman Matt Niskanen chipped in two assists in his first NHL game. "We wanted to come out strong, dictate the game, throw a lot of the pucks at the net," said Morrow. "We got a couple breaks early and created a lot momentum. Marty played well for us." Unlike Wednesday's game, where they fell behind and were forced to rally, the Stars built a lead and then put the clamps on the Bruins, who were playing their season opener. "A good start was great for us, but to hang on to it and stay with that high energy of play for 60 minutes was a very good sign for us," said Turco. The Stars struck late in the first period after Stu Barnes was able to force a turnover in the Boston zone. The end result was Matt Niskanen making nice keep at the blue line then sending a pass from the left point to Lundqvist, who beat Bruins goalie Manny Fernandez with a one-timer from the right circle at the 15:19 mark. "It was kind of a bad pass, bouncing all over the place, but he got a stick on it. Sometimes they're not always pretty,'' said Niskanen, who picked up his first NHL point on the play. The Stars scored on their first two shots of the second period to build a 3-0 lead. Niskanen had a hand in the goal that made it 2-0 at 2:41 of the period. He helped the Stars maintain pressure with a pinch along the boards, got the puck to Jussi Jokinen, who poked it to a wide-open Hagman, who beat Fernandez with a backhand shot from point blank range. The Stars scored again when Sergei Zubov skated into the Bruins zone and backhanded a pass to Morrow, who roofed a shot from the right faceoff circle. "That's long range for me," Morrow said on FSN after the game. "I usually score from four or five feet." Mike Modano also picked up an assist, moving him to within five points of tying Phil Housley for the all-time points record for a U.S.-born player. The Bruins, who outshot the Stars 12-4 in the second, finally scored with a power play goal with 2:01 left in the period. Peter Schaeffer made a nifty backhand pass across the crease to Patrice Bergeron, who slipped the puck under Turco to make it a 3-1 game. The Stars got their three-goal lead back early in the third period when Zubov scored on the power play. His blast from the left point deflected off Fernandez's stick and into the net at the 3:39 mark. The Bruins, who are playing the first of five games on the road to start the season, played their first game under new head coach Claude Julien. "We started really well, but we made a couple of costly mistakes and we paid for it,'' Julien told the Associated Press. "Losing a game is one thing, but beating yourself is another thing. ... We need to get our noses dirty in those tough areas.''
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