Morrow's goal, Hedberg's goaltending carry Stars in shootout win over Chicago

Friday, March 24, 2006

Brenden Morrow hasn't had much luck on breakaways this season, but he came up big in the shootout Friday night. Morrow, the 16th shooter in the extra session, beat Chicago Nikolai Khabibulin to give the Stars a 3-2 shootout win over Chicago at the American Airlines Center.

After Matthew Barnaby and Sergei Zubov scored on each team's first shot in the shootout, Stars goalie Johan Hedberg and Khabibulin combined for 13 straight saves before Morrow's game-deciding goal.

"It was fun for the fans but not for the coach," Stars coach Dave Tippett said after the game. "We were almost done with the forwards and down to the defensemen, so it's good that Morrow scored."

In his his first shootout attempt of the season, Morrow got the puck under Khabibulin's arm to end the longest shootout for the Stars this season.

"I did a low blocker shot," Morrow told the Associated Press. "It bounced around his armpit a little bit. I just didn't want to make it too complicated."

Zubov and Philippe Boucher scored in regulation for the Stars, who got a 24 save performance from Hedberg, who stopped seven of eight in the shootout. 

The Stars, who improved to 11-0 in shootouts this season, have won six of their last seven games and nine of their last eleven.

The Blackhawks, who tied the game with less than a second to go in the third period to force overtime, lost their fourth straight game. All of those losses have come by one goal.

The Stars and Blackhawks played a scoreless first period due to some stellar goaltending at both ends of the ice.

Hedberg made seven saves, including a nice glove save on a Mikael Holmqvist shot. Khabibulin made eight saves, including sharp saves on point blank chances by Jussi Jokinen and Mathias Tjarnqvist and a shot that deflected off Mike Modano's skate.

The Stars got 1:23 of five-on-three power play time early in the second period and were able to take advantage.

After Chicago was able to force the puck out of the zone, Modano brought it back and got to Zubov, who skated into the high slot and beat Khabibulin with a blast low to the stick side at 2:02 of the second.

The Blackhawks got back-to-back power plays later in the period, including 23 seconds of a five-on-three advantage, but were unable to get the equalizer.

Hedberg was sharp again in the second period. He had seven saves including a slick kick save on shot from the left faceoff circle by Hawks forward Milan Bartovic.

The Blackhawks applied some pressure early in the third, forcing Hedberg to make three good saves in the first 1:20.

The Blackhawks finally broke through on a two-on-two rush. Kyle Calder busted through Stephane Robidas and Philippe Boucher, got the puck to Radim Vrbata, took a return pass and beat Hedberg at 2:10 of the third.

The Stars went on a power play later in the period and Chicago got a great scoring chance, but Hedberg denied Mark Bell on a breakaway with a nice poke check. The Stars went right back up the ice and Boucher's shot from the right half-wall bounced off traffic and past Khabibulin at the 6:40 mark.

But the Blackhawks forced overtime when they scored a goal with less than a second to go in the third period. After the Stars were unable to clear the puck out of their zone, the puck ended up in front of the net and Mark Bell tapped it into the open side of the net.

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