Turco, Stars shut down Coyotes 3-0
/Andrew's Dallas Stars Page
The Dallas Stars will head into the Olympic break on a roll. Behind a 40-save shutout from Marty Turco, the Stars finished off a key road trip with a 3-0 win over the Phoenix Coyotes at Jobing.com Arena Saturday night.
"We know what we can do," Turco said. "Guys are stepping up. I said it earlier when we were struggling, and I think it applies now -- it's an attitude. ... We have a better attitude."
The Stars picked up five of six points on the trip (2-0-1) and improved to 6-2-1 in their last nine and 9-4-1 over their last 14 games.
The Stars will head into the Olympic break in ninth place based on points, one point behind Calgary which defeated Anaheim Saturday night. The Stars are tied for eighth place with Detroit based on points percentage, and actually hold the tiebreaker over the Red Wings based on points gained in the season series (6-3) after winning three of the four games.
Turco improved to 4-1-1 in his last six starts with a 1.15 goals against average, .967 save percentage and two shutouts. Both those shutouts have come against the Coyotes.
"It's amazing how good you can be when you get quality goaltending," said Stars coach Marc Crawford. "It builds your belief."
Brandon Segal, acquired off waivers from the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday, had one goal and one assist in his Stars debut. Jamie Benn and Toby Petersen also scored for the Stars.
The game got off a tense start when Coyotes forward Petr Prucha was taken off the ice on a stretcher early in the first period after he was checked into the boards by Stars forward James Neal. Prucha hit his head on the glass and crumpled to the ice. He was taken to the hospital for evaluation. There was no penalty call on Neal, which didn't sit well with the Coyotes.
"The last minute of the game [Friday] night [Martin] Hanzal got a penalty for a less of a hit than that one," said Phoenix coach Dave Tippett. "We need every player, all hands on deck, when you're playing back-to-back and you have rested team waiting for you, and you lose a player in the first five minutes of the game on a play that is an obvious hit to the head. We lose a player, they don't lose a player We don't get a power play. ... The inconsistency in that just baffles me."
The Stars saw it a different way.
"To me, really, it was nothing," Crawford said. "Nobody likes to see anybody get hurt. It's scary. [Neal] took him out. He didn't even finish the check. It was all the head on the glass. Hopefully, Petr is OK."
According the Coyotes, Prucha did return to the arena later and was up and walking around. He is listed as day-to-day with an upper body injury.
After a scoreless first period, in which the Stars killed off three Phoenix power plays including a lengthy five-on-three, Dallas took the lead with a goal by Segal, who redirected a Trevor Daley point shot past Phoenix goalie Ilya Bryzgalov at 5:54 of the second.
Mike Ribeiro set up Benn for a goal off an odd-man rush at 12:38 of the second to make it a 2-0 game. Segal set up Petersen in the third period to round out the scoring.
Phoenix dropped its second straight game, but is 8-3-0 over its last eleven games. Two of those losses have to the Stars by a combined score of 7-0.
The Stars now head off into the Olympic break. They will resume team practices in late February and will resume play March 2 when they host the Los Angeles Kings.
| Game Recap |
|
The game was delayed for
several minutes early in the first period after Coyotes forward
Petr Prucha was injured. After Prucha dumped a puck into the
Dallas zone from the neutral zone, he was hit along the boards
by Stars forward James Neal. Prucha crumpled to the ice and was
motionless for several minutes. The Coyotes said was taken
off the ice on a stretcher. The Coyotes said Prucha was
conscious and was taken to the hospital for evaluation. There
was no penalty on the play.
The physical play picked up after that and there were two fights. Neal fought Coyotes forward Martin Hanzal and Krys Barch Paul Bissonnette. There was no scoring in the period. Stars goalie Marty Turco stopped 11 shots. HIs best save come on a shot from the slot by Keith Yandle. And the team's penalty kill was 3-3, including wiping out a Phoenix five-on-three that lasted 1:40. The Stars had a great chance to take the lead early in the second, but Coyotes goalie Ilya Bryzgalov made a sharp glove save on a snap shot by Stars forward Jamie Benn. The Stars took the lead at 5:54 when recently acquired Brandon Segal deflected a Trevor Daley point shot past Bryzgalov to make it a 1-0 game. Bryzgalov came up with a save on a Mike Ribeiro breakaway to keep it a 1-0 game, but later in the period Ribeiro set up Benn on a odd-man rush Benn scored from close to range to make it 2-0 Dallas at 12:38 of the second. Turco made 17 saves in the second period, including a nice save on a Doug Winnik redirection late in the period to keep Phoenix off the board. The Stars lost forward Loui Eriksson in the third period when he was hit in the neutral zone by Coyotes defenseman Sami Lepisto. The Coyotes had a great chance to cut the Stars' lead to 2-1 when Turco mishandled a puck, but Phoenix forward Radim Vrbata shot wide at a wide open net and it remained 2-0. The Stars extended their lead to 3-0 when Segal won a puck battle in the corner and backhanded the puck to Toby Petersen, who scored from the slot at the 13:00 mark. There was a rematch bout between Barch and Bissonnette about a minute later, with Barch landing several good shots. |
| Quotable |
|
"You guys know his history better than I do. It
seems he responds to being pushed, and that's good for us," -
Stars coach Marc Crawford "I give our guys a ton of credit. We've put ourselves in strong position coming out of the break." - Phoenix coach Dave Tippett, whose team is 8-3-0 in the last 11 games. |
| Game Links |
| Game Summary | Event Summary |
