Blues blow away Stars 6-1
/Andrew's Dallas Stars Page
It was closed door meeting time for the Dallas Stars Thursday night following a 6-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues at the Scottrade Center.
"There was lots to say," Stars coach Dave Tippett said after the meeting. "I said lots in there."
Said captain Brenden Morrow: "Our passion isn't at a level it needs to be."
Not much went right in St. Louis Thursday night. The loss to the Blues dropped the Stars, whose lone goal was scored by Krys Barch, to 1-2-1 on the season. In those four games they have surrendered 18 goals.
Thursday night was not a good night for goalie Marty Turco, who allowed five goals on 18 shots and has now allowed 17 goals on 96 shots for a save percentage of .823 this season.
"The goalie has to take a big responsibility in it because we count on him to be one of our top players," Tippett said. "But that doesn't take the other 19 off the hook."
Turco ended up getting pulled after the second period and was replaced by back Tobias Stephan.
"It's a little bit of everything and it's certainly not a good thing to have played like I have," Turco said. "The reality is I need to get back to doing whatever I can to help this team win. I need to be there for the guys in front of me."
For the third time in four games the Stars found themselves down after the first period. The Stars were plagued by turnovers and breakdowns in the game. Three of St. Louis' goals in the game were unassisted.
The Stars' best line in the game may have been the fourth line of Joel Lundqvist, Toby Petersen and Barch, which left Tippett wondering about some of the team's other players, especially the top ones.
"Our goaltending has been poor, our top players are not playing with the commitment you need to win hockey games," Tippett said. "You can have as much skill as you want, but unless you are willing to work hard, your skill is going to get nullified every game."
The Stars' lost the special teams battle. St. Louis' power play, which came in to the game 7-14 on the man-advantage, was 2-4 in the game and broke it open with a five-on-three power play goal in the second period that made the score 4-1.
Morrow was in the penalty box when that goal was scored and when St. Louis scored again on the power play in the third period.
"Those are undisciplined and they are in the offensive zone," said Morrow. "That's two games in a row there were bad penalties. Last night we were able to overcome and tonight we weren't. Those were my fault."
The Stars' power play continues to struggle, going 0-3 in Thursday's game to push the season total to 2-21 or 9.5 percent.
The Blues, who hadn't played since Monday, went hard after the Stars, who had played Nashville in Dallas the night before. Six different St. Louis players scored goals as the Blues improved to 3-1-0 on the season.
"We were fresh, waiting for them," Blues coach Andy Murray said. "We played a team that played [Wednesday] night and had a battle. We took advantage."
And they embarrassed the Stars.
"This was just a bad showing," said Morrow.
| Game Recap |
| First Period |
| The Blues opened the scoring at 12:47 of the
first period when Stars center Mike Ribeiro turned over the puck
in the neutral zone, leading to a Keith Tkachuk breakaway and
the Blues forward finished it off by beating Marty Turco five
hole. The Blues made it 2-0 when Tkackuk's big hit on Stephane
Robidas was key as St. Louis defenseman Jay McKee picked
off a pass at the blue line and scored on a shot from the point.
The Stars got the goal back thanks to some good pressure by the
fourth line that ended with Krys Barch tipping home a Trevor
Daley point shot at the 16:36 mark. Score after first period: St. Louis 2, Dallas 1 First period shots on goal: St. Louis 9, Dallas 8 |
| Second Period |
| The Blues broke the game open with three
goals in the second period. Yan Stastny scored the first St.
Louis goal, grabbing a dump-in off the end boards and beating
Turco from the right side of the net at 2:57 of the second. The
Blues extended their lead to 4-1 with a five-on-three power play
goal at 12:59. With Brenden Morrow and James Neal in the penalty
box, Brad Boyes scored off a one-timer at the 12:59 mark.
Defenseman Steve Wagner scored from the point at 17:20 to make
it 5-1. Score after second period: St. Louis 5, Dallas 1 Second period shots on goal: Dallas 10, St. Louis 9 |
| Third Period |
| Tobias Stephan took over for Turco in the
third period and ended up allowing one goal on five shots. Eric
Brewer's power play goal at 12:49 of the third rounded out the
scoring for the Blues.
Final score: St. Louis 6, Dallas 1 |
| Official Scoresheet | Official Super Stats |
