Stars rally, down Flames in shootout
/Andrew's Dallas Stars Page
The Dallas Stars continue to rack up the wins and points at home. The Stars improved to 12-2-2 in their last 16 games at American Airlines Center and pulled to within two points of eighth place in Western Conference, rallying from a 3-1 deficit to beat the Calgary Flames 4-3 in a shootout Wednesday night.
"I really want to give our team credit, being down 3-1 we could have easily folded," said Stars head coach Marc Crawford. "But we had everybody battling."
The Stars, who are 4-2-0 in their last six games overall, are just two points behind the Flames, who pulled ahead of Detroit for eighth place with the point they picked up Wednesday night.
"I think any win, just a win," said Stars defenseman Stephane Robidas. "They are a desperate team. They're ahead of us in the standings. Obviously after last trip, we were a little disappointed after the last game. But we decided to stay positive and look ahead and it's a big home stretch for us coming up and we wanted to start it right."
Wednesday night's game was the first of a four-game homestand for the Stars, who are 14-3-4 in their last 21 at the AAC.
Mike Modano, James Neal and Brad Richards scored goals for the Stars. Loui Eriksson scored the lone goal in the shootout and Alex Auld, who stopped 23 of 26 in regulation and overtime, stopped all three Calgary shooters in the shootout.
"I felt good in the shootout. I obviously have a little bit of confidence in that right now," said Auld, who has stopped nine shots he's face in his last two shootout appearances. "That's a key part, feeling good, feeling confident enough to hold your ground and wait for the move you think is the one."
But to get to the shootout the Stars had to rally. The Stars were down 3-1 late in the second but after a nice play by Eriksson to keep the puck in the offensive zone, Neal deflected a Stephane Robidas shot into the net with 24 seconds left in the period to make it a 3-2 game.
"That goal right at the end of the second obviously gave us a lot of momentum, said Auld. "Any time you score in the last minute, you tend to gain a little bit. We felt going into the third with a one-goal game that we had a good chance. Obviously we got a couple of power plays and we were able to capitalize."
The Stars got a five-on-three power play for 1:25 with just over 13 minutes left in the game after Flames forward Rene Bourque was penalized for playing with a broken stick. Thirty-five seconds into the power play Flames defenseman Jay Bouwmeester took a boarding penalty, and Richards scored on the two-man advantage, blasting a shot that bounced off Calgary defenseman Dion Phaneuf into the net with 12:35 left.
Modano opened the scoring for the Stars when he took a pass from Krys Barch and blasted a shot from the left circle past Flames goalie Miikka Kiprusoff 3:58 into the game.
But the Flames scored two power play goals when they got 3:00 of power play time after Stars defenseman Mark Fistric was given a match penalty for hitting Calgary's Eric Nystrom in the head with the Flames forward's helmet during a fight.
It's unfortunate that Mark Fistric got the ejection from the game," said Crawford. "He doesn't have a history of anything like that. I thought it was accidental, but the referee has got to call it how he sees it. Hopefully the league will see it the same way as well."
On the extended power play, Phaneuf scored off a one-timer and 23 seconds later Jarome Iginla scored off a rebound to give Calgary a 2-1 lead. Olli Jokinen scored in the second period to extend Calgary's lead to 3-1.
The Flames picked up a point and moved into eighth place, but their winless streak hit eight games (0-6-2) with the shootout loss.
"It was a tough loss, but it’s a point in the right direction,” Iginla said. “For two periods, we played really good. We knew they’d be desperate because they’re trying to claw back in the race for the playoffs and go ahead of us.”
The Stars continue their homestand when they host Colorado Friday night.
| Game Recap |
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The Stars got the first goal
3:58 into the game when Krys Barch backhanded the puck from the
corner to Mike Modano, who beat Flames goalie Miikka Kiprusoff
with a blast from the left circle.
But the Flames countered with two goals off a three minute power play after Stars defenseman Mark Fistric was given a match penalty for attempt to injure after hitting Eric Nystrom with the Flames forward's helmet during a fight. Dion Phaneuf scored off a one-timer at 11:04 to tie the game at 1-1 and then 23 seconds later - after the Stars couldn't clear the puck - Jarome Iginla backhanded a rebound past Stars goalie Alex Auld. The Flames extended their lead to 3-1 at 11:37 of the second period when Iginla created a rebound with a big blast and Olli Jokinen slipped the puck under Auld during the ensuing scramble. Kiprusoff had a couple of big stops on Loui Eriksson later in the period, but Eriksson made a big play late in the second to set up a Stars goal to make it a 3-2 game. Eriksson kept the puck in the Calgary zone, got it to Stephane Robidas, whose shot from the right point was directed into the net by James Neal with 24 seconds left in the second. The Stars got a 1:25 five-on-three power play with 13-and-a-half minutes left in the game when Flames forward Rene Bourque got penalized for playing with a broken stick and then during the five-on-four Flames defenseman Jay Bouwmeester took a boarding minor. The Stars cashed in when Brad Richards slap shot bounced off Phaneuf and past Kiprusoff to tie the game at the 7:35 mark. The Stars got another four-on-three power play late in overtime when Kiprusoff took a slashing penalty and then a five-on-three for the final 20 seconds of OT when Kiprusoff took another slashing minor, but they couldn't take advantage. Eriksson scored the only goal of the shootout, beating Kiprusoff five-hole with a backhand shot. Auld stopped Jokinen, Jamie Lundmark and Iginla. |
| Quotable |
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"For two periods we were on
our game. It was the last goal in the last minute (of the second
period) that we gave up. That put us on our heels in the third
period. It allowed them to dictate play in the third. When
you’re up 3-1, you’ve got to win that game. - Calgary head coach
Brent Sutter "I think coming into the second intermission only down one gave us some confidence. We knew that we got a lot of chances in the second period, especially late, and that we were ready to make a push. - Stars head coach Marc Crawford "Robi's a warrior. He's going to be there every night and he was again tonight." Stars center Brad Richards on defenseman Stephane Robidas, who played 30:47 in the game because Mark Fistric was tossed from the game after taking a match penalty "We gave Mike a couple days off and he had a lot of jump tonight. We've always said when Mike has some freshness to his game, he's still an elite player in this league. He made a lot of good plays tonight." Stars head coach Marc Crawford on Mike Modano |
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