Third period surge: Stars rally past Wild

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

For the 27th time this season the Dallas Stars entered the third period trailing in the game. For the 11th time they were able to rally for a win. The Stars scored three third period goals to rally and beat the Minnesota Wild 4-2 Wednesday night at the Americans Airlines Center.

"The goal is to win the game and you have 60 minutes," Stars coach Dave Tippett said after the game. "It just so happened that we used the last 20 to do that. It would be easier on the coaches' hair color if we led a little more."

The win was the fifth in the last six games for the Stars and ran their record to 8-2-0 in their last ten games.

Jussi Jokinen had a goal and two assists for the Stars, who also got goals from Jere Lehtinen, Jon Klemm and Stu Barnes. Lehtinen added an assist and Jason Arnott had two assists on the night.

Marty Turco made 15 saves for his 37th win of the season, which ties the franchise record first set by Ed Belfour in 1997-98 and then matched by Turco in 2003-04.

The Wild took the early lead with a power play goal at 10:57 of the first period. After Stars Brenden Morrow and Willie Mitchell collided just inside the Dallas zone it opened a lane for Wild defenseman Pierre-Marc Bouchard, who skated into the slot and fired a shot on net. Turco made the initial stop, but Marian Gaborik got to the rebound and knocked it home for his 33rd goal of the season.

The Stars were able to tie it with 48 seconds left in the first period. Just seconds after just missing on a good scoring chance, Jokinen scored his 16th of the season. Mitchell put on a shot on net from the point and after Wild goalie Manny Fernandez made the save, Jere Lehtinen took a stab at the rebound and then Jokinen knocked it past Fernandez to make it a 1-1 game.

Fernandez came up with a couple of great stops in the second period to keep the Stars from taking the lead. He made a glove save on a point blank shot by Antti Miettinen during an odd-man rush and then a short time later he denied a Mathias Tjarnqvist tip-in attempt.

The Wild regained the lead with their second power play goal with 4:07 left in the second period. After Morrow slipped and fell, Gaborik was able to find an open Mikko Koivu in the slot. Koivu put a shot on net and Brian Rolston scored on the rebound.

The Stars struck for two goals 1:39 apart early in the third to take a 3-2 lead. The first one came on a five-on-three power play.

After Jason Arnott fanned on a shot in front of the net, Jokinen got the puck back to Arnott, who tipped the puck to Lehtinen and the Stars forward tipped into the open side of the net at the 3:47 mark. It was his 31st goal of the season, tying his career high which was set in 2002-03.

Just as the second penalty was expiring, Mike Modano forced a Wild turnover leading to a delayed penalty on the Wild. With the extra attacker on the ice, Jokinen set up a pinching Klemm, who scored off a one-timer at 5:26 of the third period.

The Stars made it a 4-2 game at the 9:05 mark when Morrow sent a backhand pass from behind the Minnesota goal line to Barnes, who scored top shelf from the slot.

"We played a good game tonight," Wild coach Jacques Lemaire said. "We had a good chance to win if we play the same way (in the third period) and stayed out of the box. The five-on-three killed us. It's that simple. You can't give them penalty after penalty."

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