Stars rally to beat Wild 4-3
/Andrew's Dallas Stars Page
The Dallas Stars put themselves in another hole Wednesday night, but this time they found a way dig out of it. After falling behind 3-1 to the Minnesota Wild, the Stars rattled off three unanswered goals to pull out a 4-3 win at the Xcel Energy Center. And there were some interesting twists along the way.
James Neal scored a pair of goals and Loui Eriksson scored the game winning goal and added two assists for the Stars, who snapped a three-game winless streak and won for just the second time in their last eight games.
"Maybe this is a tide-turner," said Stars coach Dave Tippett, whose team won for the first time this season when trailing after two periods. "Neal really played a heck of a game for us."
It was the first multi-goal game of Neal's just beginning NHL career.
"It feels great, especially with the win. It couldn't have come at a better time," Neal said. "It was a good team win and something we really needed. ... We've got to build off this win and put some wins together."
The Stars got a couple of breaks on this night. After taking a 1-0 lead on Neal's first goal of the game the Stars found themselves down 3-1 in the second period. That's when they got what might be considered their first break of the night.
That one came when it appeared the Wild's Mikko Koivu scored to give his team 4-1 lead with a power play goal 6:13 into the second period. An overhead replay view made it clear that the puck didn't cross the goal line, but the review lasted a long time and that irked Wild head coach Jacques Lemaire, who felt his team's momentum was taken away by the lengthy delay.
"It takes 10 minutes to decide a goal is not in, which we knew a long time before that, it wasn't in, but we waited and waited," Lemaire said. "You have the momentum you want to play. When you have the momentum, you don't want to go for coffee."
The Stars killed off the remaining 1:48 of Minnesota's power play and the game stayed 3-1. Then the Stars made their own break much later in the period. Just after the Stars killed off another Minnesota power play, Neal led a rush up ice and scored off the rebound of his own shot to cut Minnesota's lead to 3-2 late in the second period.
Then another break that went the Stars' way. The Wild appeared to make it a 4-2 game in the third when they fired a puck past a scrambling Turco, but there was a no goal call again that went against the Wild. This time the net was off its moorings. Again, Lemaire was not happy, saying Turco had knocked it off intentionally.
"It's the third time that Turco does that, just against us," Lemaire said. "He goes like he's going to stumble and he just lays on the post. That's what he does. It's a trick, but now they'll know."
Turco said plays like that happen in games and it goes both ways.
"Those are unfortunate. It's happened to us. Those situations should be discretionary," Turco said. "But I don't give a crap right now. We needed it, we got it and found a way."
As for him to doing it on purpose, he denied it.
"I had no clue," Turco said. "You saw me afterward diving around like an idiot. I would prefer not to do that. ... I don't know what really happened."
That kept it a one goal game and the Stars were able to tie the game 3-3 later on a Brad Richards goal at the 8:30 mark of the third period.
When a Stephane Robidas shot from the right point deflected off Eriksson and into the net as he battled for position in the slot the Stars had the lead for good.
The Wild made one last push in the final minute but had a shot go off the post, another bounce that went the Stars' way on this night.
“We need points and wins and sometimes you need a little luck," said Turco.
| Game Recap |
| First Period |
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The Stars took a 1-0 lead 8:41 into the game when Loui Eriksson picked off a Wild pass in the neutral zone and then a few moments set up James Neal, who scored from the left circle. But the Wild bounced back a little more than one minute later when Marc-Andre Bergeron put a shot on net and Eric Belanger scored off the rebound to tie the game at 9:49. Minnesota took the lead with a power play goal just under three minutes later when Mikko Koivu set up Owen Nolan, who scored from close range at 12:45 to make it a 2-1 game. Score after first period: Minnesota 2, Dallas
1 |
| Second Period |
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Minnesota extended its lead to 3-1 just 1:06 into the second period. After the Wild won a faceoff in the Dallas zone, Andrew Brunette tipped a Martin Skoula point shot past Stars goalie Marty Turco. The Wild appeared to take a 4-1 lead with a power play goal 6:13 into the period, but video reviews showed a Koivu blast from the left circle hit both posts but never crossed the goal line. Since the ref on the ice signaled it was a goal there was a lengthy review before the no goal call was made. The Stars cut the Wild's lead to 3-2 late in the third after killing off Minnesota's second power play chance of the period when Neal led the rush up ice, drove the net and scored off the rebound of his own shot at the 17:40 mark. Score after second period: Minnesota 3, Dallas
2 |
| Third Period |
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Minnesota had another goal called off when Koivu put the puck into the net, but the net was off its moorings. So the scored stayed at 3-2 and the Stars were still one shot away from tying it. That shot came at 8:30 when Brad Richards scored into the top corner of the net from the right circle to tie the game at 3-3. The Stars took the lead for good at 13:00 when
Eriksson deflected a Stephane Robidas shot from the right point
past Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom. |
| Official Scoresheet | Official Super Stats |
