Stars blank Coyotes 4-0
/Andrew's Dallas Stars Page
The Dallas Stars played their last home game before the Olympic break and made the most of it, jumping on the Phoenix Coyotes early and beating them 4-0 Saturday night at American Airlines Center.
The Stars, who improved to 10-2-0 in their last 12 home games, beat the Coyotes for the first time in four tries this season.
"Phoenix has played us tough all year, so we knew what we were up against, and we came out and were physical right off the bat," said Stars forward James Neal. "Everybody was plugging away, and that's our depth. We need that if we're going to make a big run here for the playoffs. So, it was good to see tonight and a good way to finish off at home."
Marty Turco stopped 34 shots for his third shutout of the season and 39th of his career. He's started the last three games for the Stars and has stopped 98 of 101 shots.
"I'm seeing it pretty good. It just helps to have good balance and to be able to move well. That always aids my patience - that allows me to stand in there and wait to see the puck and react accordingly and not get ahead of myself, "said Turco. "But that coincides hugely with our guys blocking shots that I can't see and giving me the ability to see pucks, and them cleaning out rebounds like they did numerous times tonight. So it's always been a work in progress, and a team effort, and those guys gave me a huge chance. And when we score four goals, I like our odds."
The Stars got two goals from Jamie Benn and a goal and an assist from both Neal and Loui Eriksson.
The Stars had a solid formula for getting two points on this night. Besides getting the excellent effort in net from Turco, they got a strong start and the early lead on the Coyotes, who had played the night before.
"The last time we played them we didn't get off to the good start. Tonight I thought we were better, and we did things that made it difficult on them," said Stars coach Marc Crawford. "We outhit them by more than 2-1 in the first period, and there were a lot of good purposeful hits that I think demonstrated we were determined to play a real strong game."
The Stars struck early in the game to take the lead on the Coyotes, who are the best team in the league when scoring the first goal of the game (26-2-2). Eriksson got to a loose puck in the slot after a shot on net from the point and slipped the puck to Neal, who scored from close range to make it 1-0 Dallas 3:36 into the game.
"Loui hit me backdoor. It was kind of an open net, so it was nice," said Neal.
Neal and Eriksson hooked up again to make it a 2-0 game late in the first time. This time it came with the Stars on the penalty kill. Neal set up Eriksson, who broke in on the Phoenix goal and beat Coyotes netminder Ilya Bryzgalov with a snap shot at the 18:33 mark.
"Loui got the jump on the penalty kill there, and I found him," said Neal. "When he gets a chance like that, he's going to bury it."
Benn scored twice in the second period, slipping the puck in the net off his backhand early in the period to make it a 3-0 game and then scoring a power play goal with a shot from the right circle.
Besides scoring on the power play and tallying shorthanded, the Stars were also 6-6 on the penalty kill in the game.
"Down the stretch it's going to be important for us to take care of special teams battle," said Stars captain Brenden Morrow. "We did that tonight."
Phoenix, which was wrapping up a four-game road trip, had its six-game winning streak come to an end.
"Last night's game, you could tell after the game, it took a huge toll on us," Phoenix coach Dave Tippett said of his team's 2-1 shootout win in Chicago on Friday night. "That was a hard, hard game, went in to overtime, late, late travel. You've got a fresh team sitting here. You know they're going to come hard at you. What you're hoping to do is make sure you get some saves and make sure you capitalize on some opportunities and we didn't get that done tonight."
The Stars head out on a three-game road trip that will take them up to the Olympic break. The trip begins Tuesday in Chicago.
| Game Recap |
|
The Stars struck early,
getting a goal 3:36 into the game to take a 1-0 lead. Loui
Eriksson got to a loose puck in the slot and set up James Neal,
who scored from close range.
Phoenix got two power plays in the first period and the Stars scored shorthanded on the second one, when Eriksson beat Coyotes goalie Ilya Bryzgalov on a breakaway with 1:27 left in the first. The Stars extended the lead to 3-0 at 2:37 of the second period when Jamie Benn backhanded the rebound of his shot into the net. Benn struck again - this time on the power play - when he beat Bryzgalov with a shot from the right circle to make it a 4-0 game. The Stars killed off three Phoenix power plays in the second period and then another in the third to finish 6-6 on the penalty kill in the game. |
| Quotable |
|
"He's played very well in the
last three. Probably the biggest thing he needed was a break; he
didn't want it to be as long as he got it, but all you can do in
those types of situations is prepare for your next outing. We've
got a day off tomorrow, so hopefully he'll get a good rest
tomorrow, practice on Monday. Definitely he's feeling good about
himself right now. You can see it in his body language, you can
see it in the way he moves the puck, and it couldn't come at a
better time for us." - Stars coach Marc Crawford on goalie Marty
Turco "Phoenix has played us tough all year, so we knew what we were up against, and we came out and were physical right off the bat, and put a lot of shots on Bryzgalov. .... Everything we got our sticks on - we wanted to put bodies to the net and shoot it. We did that, and we were physical. It was a good start." - Stars forward James Neal "When the players are coming back the bench and the look on their face is 'really I'm trying,' but nothing's happening, that's probably a good indication. We knew we were going to be low on energy tonight, and this is two times in a week when you've got to turn around like this. That being said, you've got to get in these games and find ways to win." Phoenix coach Dave Tippett |
| Game Links |
| Game Summary | Event Summary |
