Stars bounce back, drill Islanders
After getting embarrassed by New Jersey Wednesday night, the Dallas Stars played like a much different team against the New York Islanders Thursday night and they got a much different result. Led by Mike Ribeiro's five point night, the Stars rolled over the Islanders 5-3 to take four of six points on their three-game road trip.
"There was a real determination in our group from tonight," said Stars coach Dave Tippett. "There was embarrassment from last night. We put it in our veteran players' hands tonight and they did a very good job for us tonight.
Leading the charge was the line of Brenden Morrow, Mike Ribeiro and Loui Eriksson, which combined for four goals, six assists and a plus-six rating.
Ribeiro had five points (one goal, four assists), Eriksson scored two goals and Morrow had three points (one goal, two assists). Krys Barch ended up taking some shifts on that line and ended up scoring a goal as well.
"They were a dominant line tonight. They were very good," said Tippett. "Very good."
After splitting up Morrow and Ribeiro recently, Tippett put the pair back together to start Thursday night's game.
"We needed a win," Tippett said with a laugh when asked about reuniting Morrow and Ribeiro. "Brenden and Ribeiro were struggling a bit. There were a lot of minuses and things weren't clicking, so sometimes a day or two apart is not bad for them."
The Stars, who improved to 3-4-1 on the season, took control of the game early, scoring three times in the first period behind the Morrow-Ribeiro line.
Eriksson scored on the power play 3:30 into the game when he directed a Ribeiro pass from the point past New York goalie Rick DiPietro.
After a big save by Marty Turco on Richard Park later in the period, Ribeiro set up Morrow off the rush at 14:13 to make it a 2-0 game.
Ribeiro then knocked down a clearing attempt late in the first and set up Eriksson, who scored off a backhand shot with 1:33 left in the period to make it 3-0. In the second period, Barch deflected a Morrow shot past DiPietro and Ribeiro scored on the power play in the second to round out the scoring for the Stars.
It was a big night for Ribeiro, who came into the game with four assists and a minus-seven rating through the first seven games.
"I thought last night was one of my best games of the year with no results," Ribeiro said during the second intermission interview on the Stars' broadcast network. "I think I just changed my attitude a bit. I was frustrated with the beginning of the season. I changed my attitude and came to the rink with some positive thinking. If you do that good things will happen."
There were plenty of good things for the Stars on this night.
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After being outscored 20-11 in the first two periods over the first seven games, the Stars had a 5-1 lead through the first two periods Thursday.
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The power play, which had scored once in the first four road games, scored on its first chance of the night, and ended up 2-6 on the night.
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The penalty kill, which came into the game ranked 27th on the road at 70.6 percent, was 5-6 on the night and killed off three straight Islanders' power plays early in the second, including a full two minutes of five-on-three time.
"We needed some saves and we needed some breaks," Tippett said of that penalty kill sequence. "We had guys out there blocking shots and doing what ever it took to win. We need to do that on a consistent basis. Those are going to be the trademarks of our team."
Turco, who ended up with 24 saves in the game, had a key save in that sequence, getting a piece of a shot by Doug Weight, who was shooting at an open side of the net.
"Marty came up huge, we had a big kill and got some good breaks," said Morrow. "It's a lot easier to defend when you have a lead and we were able to create some turnovers and possess the puck. We can look at tonight as a success, but we won't get too far ahead of ourselves."
| Game Recap |
| First Period |
| The Stars dominated the first period, taking
a 3-0 lead into the first intermission. The Stars struck on
their first power play chance 3:30 into the game to take the
early lead. After Sean Avery drew a penalty, Loui Eriksson
redirected a Mike Ribeiro pass into the net. Later in the period
Marty Turco came up with a big save, stopping Richard Park's
point blank backhand shot to keep it a 1-0 game, and moments
later Ribeiro set up a Morrow tap-in off the rush at 14:13 to
make it 2-0 Dallas. Ribeiro set up Eriksson again at the 18:22
mark when he knocked down a clearing attempt and passed it to
Eriksson, who beat Isles goalie Rick DiPietro with a backhand
shot to make it a 3-0 game. The Islanders lost defenseman
Brendan Witt in the first period after he was hit hard by Stars
forward Krys Barch. Witt did not return to the game. Score after first period: Dallas 3, NY Islanders 0 First period shots on goal: Dallas 12, NY Islanders 9 |
| Second Period |
| The Stars penalty kill came up big early in
the second period, killing off three straight Islanders power
plays that included a full two minutes of five-on-three time.
Turco made five saves including a great stop on Doug Weight, who
had a wide open net on the five-on-three. Turco got a piece of
the shot, which then hit the post. The Islanders did finally get
on the scoreboard later in the period when Bill Guerin scored
from the right circle at 10:16, but the Stars bounced back with
two more goal in the period to build a 5-1 lead. Barch deflected
a Brenden Morrow shot past DiPietro at 13:05 to make it 4-1.
Ribeiro picked up his fourth assist on that goal. Ribeiro then
scored on the power play off a nice set up by Mike Modano to
make it 5-1 at the 18:27 mark. Score after second period: Dallas 5, NY Islanders 1 Second period shots on goal: Dallas 11, NY Islanders 11 |
| Third Period |
| The Islanders scored the only two goals of
the third period. Mark Streit scored from close range on the
power play at the 3:28 mark and Jon Sim scored off the rebound
of his own shot with three seconds left in the game. Final score:
Dallas 5, NY Islanders 3 |
| Official Scoresheet | Official Super Stats |
