Stars bounce back, bounce by Blackhawks
/Andrew's Dallas Stars Page
Sometimes you need a bounce or two to win and the Stars got a big one to help them bounce back from Friday night's loss against Boston. Stephane Robidas' third period goal that took a strange bounce off the boards and then bounced by Chicago goalie Cristobal Huet proved to be the game-winning goal as the Stars beat the Blackhawks 4-3 at the United Center Saturday night.
"I didn't do anything special," said Robidas, whose goal came with 9:33 left in the game and gave the Stars a 4-2 lead. "It's just part of the game. Sometime bounces go your way and sometimes they don't. When they do, you take them."
The bounce, obviously, didn't go Huet's way.
"It took another funny bounce right before it came to me," said Huet, who let the puck slip in between himself and the post on the short side. "I really looked bad tonight."
While Huet, who allowed four goals on 25 shots, had some issues in net for Chicago, Alex Auld turned in another stellar performance for the Stars, stopping 29 of 32 shots on the night.
"Alex was our best player tonight," said Stars head coach Marc Crawford. "It was important we had good goaltending tonight because Chicago is a really good team."
Auld was superb in the first period, when Chicago made a strong push and dictated play, keeping the Stars pinned in their own end a good deal of the time.
"It's a good challenge," said Auld "It's kind of fun because you know you have to battle, be up for it and find the puck. It's tough, but it worked out."
Auld stopped everything he saw in the period and the Stars got out of it tied 0-0 despite being outshot 14-5.
"They totally outplayed us in the first and our goalie kept us in the game," said Robidas.
The Stars came out stronger after the first intermission and got goals from Brenden Morrow and Mike Ribeiro in the first 5:10 of the second period to take a 2-0 lead. Chicago cut it to 2-1, but Toby Petersen scored on a blast from the right wing off the rush to extend it to 3-1 midway through the second. Robidas' strange bounce goal extended the lead to 4-2 midway through the third period. The Hawks scored late but couldn't get the equalizer and the Stars improved to 3-1-3 on the season, including 2-0-2 on the road.
The Blackhawks, who fell to 5-2-1 on the season, had a four-game winning streak snapped.
"It was a tough night," said Chicago coach Joel Quenneville. "We had a good first period and nothing to show for it. They were looking for turnovers and capitalized on it. We kept trying to get ourselves back into it and that fourth one (the Robidas goal) was a tough one."
The Stars return home to take on the Los Angeles Kings on Monday.
| Game Recap |
|
The Stars were outshot 14-5 in the first period
but they got out of the first period tied at 0-0 thanks to some
excellent goaltending by Alex Auld, who made nice stops.
Chicago's Cristobal Huet wasn't tested often but he came up with
good stops on James Neal early in the game and a Jamie Benn
redirection later in the period.
The Stars took the lead 2:17 into the second period when the Stars were finally able to establish some offensive zone pressure and Brenden Morrow backhanded the rebound of his own shot off traffic and over the goal line. After the Stars killed off Chicago's second power play of the game, the Stars were able to extend the lead to 2-0 when Matt Niskanen's blast from the right point deflected off Mike Ribeiro and into the net a the 5:10 mark. Just 34 seconds later the Blackhawks finally got on the board. After James Neal lost the puck in his own zone, Troy Brouwer beat Auld with a shot from the right circle. The Stars got the two goal lead back at 9:44 of the second when Mark Fistric, who played forward in the game, forced a turnover and the play ended with Toby Petersen scoring off a blast from the right wing on the rush. Chicago bounced back to make it a 3-2 game late in the second when Auld lost the puck behind the net and Patrick Sharp chipped it to Jonathan Toews, who put it into the empty net from the right circle. The Stars extended their lead to 4-2 at 10:27 of the third period when Stephane Robidas went to rim around the puck from center ice and the puck took a strange bounce off the glass and slipped between Huet and the post and into the net. Chicago scored with 4:28 remaining to make it 4-3 and got an abbreviated power play at the end, but could not get the equalizer. |
| Turning Points |
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| Notes: Fistric looks forward |
| The Stars dressed seven defenseman in the
game Saturday and used Mark Fistric as a forward. Fistric skated
on the fourth line with Toby Petersen and Krys Barch, picking up
an assist, a plus-one rating and two hits while playing 6:46 in
the game.
Center Aaron Gagnon was the lone healthy scratch. Mike Modano, Jere Lehtinen and Steve Ott were all out with injuries. |
| Quotable |
| "All in all I was really pleased with the way
we played, especially in the second and third periods. It was a
hard-fought victory for us." - Stars head coach Marc Crawford "It's crazy. You want to win, but I felt terrible for him. I know Cris a little bit. He doesn't deserve that." Stars goalie Alex Auld on the bad bounce goal that got by Hawks goalie Cristobal Huet in the third period "I feel bad about myself. I let the team down. I know I can play way better than that. It's just a bump in the road." - Chicago goalie Cristobal Huet |
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