Stars, Stephan solid in 4-2 win over Wild
/Andrew's Dallas Stars Page
Those two days of detail-oriented practice appear to have paid dividends for the Dallas Stars. The Stars rolled out a strong all-around performance and got a solid outing from goalie Tobias Stephan to beat the Minnesota Wild 4-2 Wednesday night at the American Airlines Center.
Stephan, making his first start of the season, stopped 19 of 21 shots in giving struggling No. 1 goalie Marty Turco a night off.
"It's great to have a win," Stephan said on FSN after the game. "The guys played great and made it quite easy for me."
Stephan, who didn't see a lot of playing time in the preseason and has only made two relief appearances so far this season, wasn't tested often, but he had some has sharp saves. His best came late in the second period when he stopped Andrew Brunette with Minnesota on a power play.
"The most important thing was to make some saves early and get in the game early," Stephan said. "The puckhandling worked out pretty well. Had good communication with the D."
Stephan's teammates played extremely well in front of him, evidence that the work the team put in during practice sessions in Frisco the past few days had an impact.
"That's been our emphasis for three days. We had to check and play better without the puck," said Stars coach Dave Tippett. "I thought this was a step in the right direction. With that you still need strong goaltending and he made the saves he was supposed to make."
Stephan also got plenty of offensive support and he got it early. Stars captain Brenden Morrow scored 13 seconds into the game and after Minnesota tied it on the power play, Steve Ott and Brad Richards, playing on a line with Sean Avery (two assists on the night), scored goals to give the Stars a 3-1 lead after one period of play.
"We came out that first shift and set a good tone," said Tippett. "I thought we had some players really engaged in the game. Steve Ott gave us some good energy. That could have been Brad Richards' best game of the season. There were a lot of parts that clicked in. Tobias gave us solid goaltending, we built a lead and held it."
The Stars, who improved to 4-4-2 on the season, gave the Wild very few good chances in the game, and both Minnesota goals came on the power play. One of those came on a perfectly placed sharp angle shot off the rush and the other one came on a centering pass that bounced a Dallas defensemen into the net.
"We really brought it," said Ott. "We've been practicing hard the last few days, working on defensive zone stuff and one-on-one battles. If you win more one-on-one battles on a nightly basis you are going to do well in this league. I thought from our goalie to our defense to our forwards, we won a lot of one-on-one battles."
The loss was the first in regulation for Minnesota, which fell to 6-1-1 on the season. The Wild also had a streak of 24 consecutive penalty kills snapped when Matt Niskanen scored on the power play off a nice drop pass from Avery in the second period.
"We've had better nights," Minnesota coach Jacques Lemaire said. "We gave them two gifts right from the start. They're a good team. They don't give you a lot."
The Stars, who have still yet to win consecutive games yet this season or even put together back-to-back solid games, say they've got to do more of the same as they get ready to head out on the road for games in Chicago and Boston this weekend.
"Collectively we have to get out of this funk and what better way to start than tonight," said Ott. "We need to carry this momentum onto the road."
| Game Recap |
| First Period |
|
The Stars got off to a quick start, scoring just 13 seconds into the game. After the Stars picked off a pass by Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom along the right boards, Mike Ribeiro sent the puck to Brenden Morrow, who beat Backstrom from close range. The Wild tied the game exactly six minutes later with a power play goal. Marc-Andre Bergeron scored from the bottom left circle with a blast that went into just under the crossbar. But after that the period belonged to the Stars, who had the Wild on their heels most of the time. Dallas took the lead at 12:45 when Brad Richards centered the puck from behind the goal line and Steve Ott knocked it in during a scramble in front of the net. Richards made it 3-1 when the rebound of a Mark Fistric shot came to him in the left circle and he fired it past Backstrom at 15:39. The Stars came close to making it 4-1 late in
the period, but Backstrom stopped Ribeiro on a breakaway
attempt. |
| Second Period |
|
The Wild made a goaltending change to start the second, bringing in Josh Harding to replace Backstrom, who allowed three goals on 13 shots in the first period. The Stars ran their lead to 4-1 with a power play goal at 12:06 of the period. Sean Avery made a drop pass off the rush to Matt Niskanen, who scored from the slot for his first goal of the season. The power play goal ended Minnesota's streak of 24 straight penalty kills to open the season. Tobias Stephan had his best stretch of the
game when the Wild went on a power play late in the second.
Stephan made a couple of nice stops, including a great one on
Andrew Brunette. |
| Third Period |
|
The Wild scored the only goal of the third
period when Andrew Brunette's centering pass deflected off
Fistric and past Stephan at 3:55 of the period. |
| Official Scoresheet | Official Super Stats |
