Stars down Flames, move to within one point of 8th place
/Andrew's Dallas Stars Page
The Dallas Stars are picking up points on the road and gaining ground in the Western Conference playoff race. The Stars won a key game Thursday night, topping the Flames 3-1 to move to within one point of eighth place.
The Stars, who have picked up three of four points in the first two games of their pre-Olympic break road trip and are 8-4-1 in their last 13 games overall, are tied with Detroit for ninth place in the conference based on points and are tied with the Red Wings for eighth based on points percentage. The win was just their second in their last 15 road games (2-10-3).
"We've had a lot of games on the road where we've probably played better than we did tonight, and didn't get anything to show for it," coach Marc Crawford said. "But we stuck around tonight. Marty [Turco] allowed us to stick around."
Turco, whose future with the organization is the subject of much speculation these days, put that behind him and simply stopped pucks Thursday night. He made 33 saves on the night to improve to 3-1-1 in his last five games. He's stopped 168 of 175 shots during that stretch for a .960 save percentage.
"I know I have the most fun when we're winning and I'm playing well, giving these guys a chance to win," said Turco. "Tonight was a lot of fun. Right at the end of the game, when you squeeze out a tight one in a tough barn against a team that's hungry and playing well."
He got some help from his teammates, who blocked 20 shots on the night. The Stars penalty kill came up big as well, going 5-6 on the night and coming up big kill on a 4:00 Calgary power play early in the game.
Mike Ribeiro recorded two nifty two goals and added an assist, and Jamie Benn's early third period goal broke a 1-1 tie and held up as the game-winner. Brenden Morrow chipped in two assists.
The Stars got off to a slow start in the game and fell behind when Calgary scored on the power play 15:34 into the game. Flames captain Jarome Iginla got credit for the goal, but it was Morrow who fired the puck into the net as he tried to clear the rebound of Iginla's shot.
"I was just trying to clear it and I caught it a little thin," Morrow said. "It's one of those things. It's the first time it's ever happened to me. I've seen it on highlights, laugh about it when it's other people but when it's you, it's a different feeling."
But the Stars bounced back in the second period. Ribeiro tied the game with 5:00 left in the second when got to the rebound at the right side of the net, slipped the puck between his legs and put the puck in net off Flames goalie Miikka Kiprusoff.
"It was behind the goal line and it was the only play. It was a little bit lucky but we'll take that one. Hopefully you'll put that on the top 10," said Ribeiro. "I do stuff like that all the time in practice. I guess it was the right time to do it."
The Stars took the lead early in the third period when Benn picked off a pass along the right boards to keep the Stars attack alive, then took a pass from Morrow and beat Kiprusoff with a shot from the left circle at the 3:00 mark.
The Flames thought they had tied the game with 29.3 seconds remaining when an Iginla shot from a sharp angle got behind Turco. The Flames celebrated and so did the fans, but a video review appeared to show the puck never crossed the goal line. It was ruled no goal.
"I'm 100 per cent sure it was an inch over," Calgary forward Niklas Hagman said. "I could see it. For sure it was in. When he shot it, I continued my motion and I stopped behind the net. I don't know if there was a whistle before or what but I definitely saw that the puck was over the line."
Said Turco: "I'm pretty sure they didn't get it wrong on video. I had it in my glove in front of the line."
Ribeiro sealed the win when he scored an empty net goal off a neutral zone faceoff with ten seconds remaining to make it a 3-1 final.
The Stars finish the road trip and play their final game before the Olympic break on Saturday, when they take on the Coyotes in Phoenix.
| Game Recap |
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The Stars got in some penalty
trouble in the first period, giving Calgary three power play
chances. They killed off the first two, a double minor on Loui
Eriksson for high sticking. But Calgary cashed in on the third
one, a hooking penalty on James Neal.
Jarome Iginla carried the puck out from the corner to the net, put a shot on net that Stars goalie Marty Turco stopped but when Stars captain Brenden Morrow tried to clear the puck he accidentally fired into his own net at the 15:34 mark. Iginla got credit for the goal and Calgary had a 1-0 lead. The Stars got a power play late in the period, but the Flames got a couple of good shorthanded chances and Turco made stop on Jay Bouwmeester's point blank shot to keep it a 1-0 game heading into the first intermission. There were five power plays in the second period. The Stars killed off two Calgary chances and on the second of their three chances to tie the game at 1-1 and that came on a highlight reel goal by Mike Ribeiro at the 15:00 mark. Ribeiro got to a rebound at the side of the net, put the puck between his legs and banked the puck into the net off the pads of Flames goalie Miikka Kiprusoff. On the Stars' third power play of the third, James Neal got off a shot from close range but it was turned away by Kiprusoff and the game headed to the third tied at 1-1. The Stars took the lead 3:01 into the first when Brenden Morrow set up Jamie Benn, who beat Kiprusoff with a shot from the left circle. The Flames thought they tied the game with 29.3 seconds remaining when Iginla scored from the goal line with Calgary on the power play, but video replays showed the puck never crossed the goal line and it was ruled no goal. Ribeiro rounded out the scoring with another slick goal, scoring an empty net goal off a neutral zone faceoff with ten seconds left in the game. |
| Quotable |
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"There's a lot of excitement
in the room right now. We've been playing a lot better lately
and we've finally got the 'W' to show for it. It's been a while
for us." - Stars forward Toby Petersen on the road win "We got through the first period only down one goal, because of good goaltending from Marty. Sometimes you have to do that, especially on the road when you're tired." Stars coach Marc Crawford "We can laugh about it now but what an embarrassing feeling." Stars captain Brenden Morrow on shooting the puck into his own net "It's 1-1 going into the third at home, we've got to find ways to win that game." - Calgary captain Jarome Iginla Every game is such a big game for us, there is no margin for error. Tonight I thought the game was right there for us again and we didn't take advantage of it." - Calgary coach Brent Sutter |
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