Polak carries Stars to shootout win

Sunday, September 18, 2005

Vojtech Polak scored two goals and had two assists during regulation and then scored the only goal of the shootout as the Dallas Stars took a 6-5 shootout win over the Edmonton Oilers at Rexall Place Sunday night. Matt Nickerson, Yared Hagos and Junior Lessard also scored for the Stars, who are now 1-1-0 on the pre-season.

The Stars got off to a quick start, scoring twice in the firs 1:19 of the game. The first one came 54 seconds in when Polak picked off the puck and beat Edmonton goalie Ty Conklin with a shot from the blue line.

Just 25 seconds later the Stars struck again when Nickerson, trailing on a two-on-one Stars break, scored from the slot to make it a 2-0 game.

Hagos added an unassisted goal midway through the first period to make it a 3-0 game.

Dan Ellis was perfect in the first period, stopping all seven shots he faced including some nice stops to keep the Oilers off the board.

Mike Smith got the call in goal for the Stars to start the second and the Oilers scored 52 seconds in on a goal by Zachery Stortini.  The Oilers made it a 3-2 game with a Raffi Torres power play goal at the 6:22 mark of the second.

But just 13 seconds later Polak scored again to put the Stars up 4-2. The Oilers Marc-Antoine Pouliot scored at 12:00 to make it a 4-3 game, which is how it ended after the first 40 minutes of play.

The Oilers drew even at 12:11 of the third period when Fernando Pisani scored off the rebound of a Torres shot.

But just 18 seconds later Lessard scored with an assist from Polak to give the Stars a 5-4 lead.

The Oilers drew even with just 44 seconds left in regulation with a Steve Staios goal that forced the overtime.

The Stars had the best chance of the overtime when Shawn Belle had a shorthanded breakaway, but the chance was turned away by Oilers goalie Jeff Deslauriers.

That set the stage for the shootout.

After Antti Miettinen and Lessard failed to score in the shootout, Polak scored on the Stars final shot. Smith, who had already stopped Torres and Ales Hemsky, turned away Marty Reasoner to give the Stars the victory.

Stars lineup

Forwards: Antti Miettinen, Niko Kapanen, Jussi Jokinen, Brenden Morrow, Junior Lessard, Vojtech Polak, Steve Ott, Yared Hagos, B.J. Crombeen, Garrett Burnett, Marius Holtet, Mike Siklenka

Defense: Philippe Boucher, Shawn Belle, Martin Skoula, Stephane Robidas, Matt Nickerson, Mark Fistric

Goaltenders: Dan Ellis, Mike Smith

Notes

The Stars were 0-5 on the power play. The Oilers were 1-9. Edmonton outshot Dallas 31-30. Garrett Burnett and B.J. Crombeen both picked up fighting majors for the Stars.
 

Dallas at Edmonton Box Score
Rexall Place/Edmonton, Alberta	1	2	3	OT	SO	F
Dallas Stars	3	1	1	0	1	6
Edmonton Oilers	0	3	2	0	0	5
First Period
Scoring: 1, Dallas, Vojtech Polak 1 (Unassisted), 0:54. 2, Dallas, Matt Nickerson 1 (Brenden Morrow, Vojtech Polak),1:19. 3, Dallas, Yared Hagos 1 (Unassisted), 10:49 Penalties: A Miettinen, Dal (tripping), 3:04; M Skoula, Dal (interference), 5:45; S Belle, Dal (high sticking), 11:46; G Burnett, Dal (roughing), 15:05
Second Period
Scoring: 4, Edmonton, Zachery Stortini 1 (Fernando Pisani, Raffi Torres),0:52. 5, Edmonton, Raffi Torres 1 (power play) (Fernando Pisani, Marty Reasoner)6:22. 6, Dallas, Vojtech Polak 2 (Junior Lessard, Brenden Morrow),6:35. 7, Edmonton, Marc-Antoine Pouliot 1 (Jani Rita, Igor Ulanov),12:00  Penalties: K Brodziak, Edm (holding), 2:11; J Hunter, Edm (roughing), 5:04; G Burnett, Dal (misconduct), 5:04; G Burnett, Dal (major fighting), 8:58; Z Stortini, Edm (major fighting), 8:58; P Boucher, Dal (tripping), 9:43; S Belle, Dal (cross checking), 10:55; N Kapanen, Dal (interference), 14:06; K Brodziak, Edm (slashing), 19:42
Third Period
Scoring: 8, Edmonton, Fernando Pisani 1 (Raffi Torres, Jason Smith),12:11. 9, Dallas, Junior Lessard 1 (Vojtech Polak), 12:29. 10, Edmonton, Steve Staios 1 (Igor Ulanov), 19:16 Penalties: M Greene, Edm (hooking), 4:25; S Staios, Edm (hooking), 14:15; B Crombeen, Dal (major fighting), 17:05; D Smith, Edm (major fighting), 17:05
Overtime
Scoring: None.  Penalties: V Polak, Dal (hooking), 3:21
Stats
Shots On Goal	1	2	3	OT		Total
Dallas Stars	12	6	9	3		30
Edmonton Oilers	7	14	9	1		31
Power Plays
Dallas: 0 of 5, Edmonton: 1 of 9
Goaltenders
Dallas: Dan Ellis (12 shots, 12 saves), Mike Smith (start of 2nd period, 22, 17; record: 1-0-0). Edmonton: Ty Conklin (17 shots, 13 saves), Jeff Deslauriers (10:29 of 2nd period, 16, 14; record: 0-1-0