Stars fall in shootout to Blackhawks, but pick up key point
/Andrew's Dallas Stars Page
The Dallas Stars didn't get a win to open their key three-game road trip, but they got an important point in the playoff race. Loui Eriksson's goal with 3:50 left in regulation got the Stars to overtime but they couldn't extra point, eventually falling 4-3 to the Chicago Blackhawks in a shootout.
The Stars picked up one point on eighth place Calgary, and are now within three points of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. The Stars play the Flames Thursday night in Calgary.
"It was a good effort by our guys. We can't be disappointed," Stars coach Marc Crawford said. "I think we can build on this one and hopefully play real well against Calgary. A lot of those teams didn't get any points tonight, so we pick up a point on both Detroit and on Calgary. Nashville got a point, so we didn't lose any ground there."
James Neal had a goal and two assists for the Stars. Mike Ribeiro, who returned to the lineup after missing 15 games with a throat contusion, scored a power play goal for the Stars. Marty Turco stopped 37 of 40 shots on the night for the Stars.
"It was good that we came out with a point. We had a chance to win this game," said Ribeiro. "Turks was huge for us again. We'll take this for the first game of the road trip."
Ribeiro opened the scoring for the Stars, tallying on the power play 8:27 into the game with Dallas on the power play. Ribeiro took a pass from Neal and put the puck into the open side of the net.
After Patrick Kane answered for the Blackhawks, Neal scored off the rebound of a Jeff Woywitka shot with 1:57 left in the first to give Dallas the lead again. Kane scored again to tie the game at 2-2 with just 29 seconds left in the period.
The Blackhawks took the lead 6:13 into the third period on a Troy Brouwer goal, but the Stars answered with 3:50 left when Neal won a puck battle behind the net and got the puck to Brad Richards, who set up Eriksson's goal to tie the game.
The shootout was scoreless through the first nine shooters and then Chicago's Kris Versteeg beat Turco with a snap shot to give Chicago the win.
"It was just going in and shooting and hoping it went in," Versteeg said. "Turco's a heck of a goaltender. You don't want to do too much in the shootout. Go down and keep it simple."
The win was the second straight for the Blackhawks following a three-game winless streak.
The Stars continue their road trip Thursday in Calgary.
| Ribeiro returns |
|
Stars center Mike Ribeiro had
a strong game in his return to the lineup after missing more
than a month with a throat contusion.
Ribeiro played 17:09, including 2:37 on the power play and 0:55 on the penalty kill, scored a power play goal and won six of 13 faceoffs. "I was feeling better and better," Ribeiro said. "I wasn't expecting that much ice time. I don't know how much I played, a lot more than I thought I was going to play. I felt good. I got hit, I tried to hit too. ... It was good." Heading in Ribeiro said he would keep his shifts short. His first one was extraordinarily long, lasting 1:38 according to the NHL stats sheets. |
| Game Recap |
|
The Stars opened the scoring,
cashing in on their second power play chance of the game at the
8:27 mark. James Neal set up Mike Ribeiro, who put the puck into
the open side of the net from close range.
Chicago bounced back to tie at the 13:54 mark when Patrick Kane slipped the puck between Marty Turco's legs from the bottom of the left faceoff circle. The Stars got the lead back with 1:57 left in the first when Neal picked off the rebound of a Jeff Woywitka point shot and put it past Chicago goalie Antti Niemi. But the Blackhawks tied the game with 29 seconds left in the period when Kane came out from behind the goal line and scored through traffic. The Blackhawks stepped up the pressure in the second period, outshooting the Stars 16-7, but Turco held the fort to keep it a 2-2 game. His best save came when he made a sprawling stop on a Dustin Byfuglien breakaway. Chicago took the lead 6:13 into the third period when Troy Brouwer got to the rebound of a Marian Hossa shot off the end boards and scored from the right circle. The Stars drew even with 3:50 late in the game. Neal backhanded a puck from behind the Chicago net to Brad Richards and he sent the puck to Loui Eriksson, who scored from the right circle to tie the game at 3-3. The Stars had a full two minutes of four-on-three power play time in overtime, but couldn't covert. The Stars almost won the game late in overtime, but Brenden Morrow shot that Trevor Daley appeared to redirect into the net crossed the goal line just after time had expired. After the first nine shooters missed in the shootout, Kris Versteeg beat Turco to give Chicago the shootout win. |
| Quotable |
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“The Hawks are a very skilled
team, their defense is very fast, and you have to be physical
against them to compete. They’re one of the best teams in the
league and if you want to be on top you have to battle with
them. It’s good to get the point but it’s tough to lose the
extra one in a shootout.” - Stars forward James Neal “It was a good effort, we got a point and every point is important. We would have liked to have gotten two but it came right down to the end. I thought we clogged up the middle and kept most of their shots to the outside.” - Stars coach Marc Crawford “I thought for two games our offense has been generating and it was productive tonight. Good response coming out in the first period, and I thought in the second period we got a lot of zone time, but didn’t get the quality chances we’d like. Thought we did a better job of that in the third. I thought [Niemi] was solid, looked very poised in the shootout as well. His size, his presence on top of the crease, his control of loose pucks around the net is something he’s improving on." Chicago coach Joel Quenneville "I don't like thinking before. I just react to what the player does. - Chicago goalie Antti Niemi on his shootout approach |
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