Stars down Oilers in shootout

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Another shootout, another two points for the Dallas Stars. The Stars made it three straight wins Tuesday night, knocking off Edmonton 4-3 in a shootout.

The Stars, who blew a 3-1 lead in the third period, got shootout goals from Sergei Zubov and Jussi Jokinen and Marty Turco stopped both shots he faced for the Stars, who pulled within two points of Detroit for first overall in the Western Conference.

Jokinen also scored on a penalty shot for Dallas, which got goals from Philippe Boucher and Antti Miettinen.

"It is pretty hard to explain it," Jokinen told the Canadian Press about his shootout prowess. "I enjoy that situation. It's like a one-on-one battle between me and the goalie."

Even the Oilers were impressed with Jokinen.

''That move is unbelievable," Oilers forward Ryan Smyth of Jokinen scoring with basically the same move on both the penalty shot and in the shootout. "I have never seen a guy do it twice in one game."

Turco stopped 26 of 29 shots in regulation and overtime.

The Stars improved to a league-best 9-0 in shootouts this season. The Oilers dropped to 6-6 in shootouts.

The Stars and Oilers played a physical, basically penalty free first 20 minutes. The Stars, who outshot Edmonton 10-4, had the only power play of the period, but were unable to generate anything on it.

The Stars did break through late in the period to take a 1-0 lead. After Jason Arnott backhanded a shot on net from a sharp angle, the rebound ended up in the slot. Boucher had time to settle the puck down with his hand and then got off a shot that beat Oiler goalie Ty Conklin with 2:15 left in the period.

The Oilers drew even at 6:06 of the second period on a Dick Tarnstrom goal. After some great work by Alex Hemsky to keep possession of the puck, he got the puck to Shawn Horcoff, who backhanded a pass to Tarnstrom, who scored from the left faceoff circle.

But a little less than four minutes later the Stars regained the lead. After Niko Kapanen forced an Edmonton turnover at the Oilers blue line, Niklas Hagman got the puck, dropped it back to Kapanen and the Stars center set up Miettinen, who ripped a shot past Conklin from the slot.

Almost four minutes later the Stars went on a power play. While they were on it, Sergei Zubov was able to spring Jokinen on a breakaway, but Jokinen, who was hooked from behind, was awarded a penalty shot.

The Stars rookie, who is 9-9 in shootouts this season, skated in and beat Conklin to the blocker side to give Dallas a 3-1 lead at 14:37 of the second.

The Oilers cut the Dallas lead to 3-2 at 3:52 of the third period when Ryan Smyth knocked home the rebound of a Chris Pronger shot.

The Oilers tied it at 10:57 of the third with another rebound goal. This time it was Horcoff who knocked home the rebound of a Pronger shot.

In the shootout, the Oilers turned to Mike Morrison, who is their shootout goalie. Zubov scored to Morrison's glove side on the first shot. Jokinen scored with his usual shot to the blocker side that finds its way just inside the post. Edmonton's Ales Hemsky shot high on Turco and then Turco denied Smyth's five-hole bid.

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