Thursday night, the Dallas Stars went Duck hunting, rallying to beat the Anaheim Ducks 3-1 at the American Airlines Center.
If the Stars’ goal was to stop Corey Perry, who had the longest point streak in Duck franchise history, then they not only met that goal, they exceeded it. Perry was unable to find the net behind Stars goalie, Marty Turco, snapping # 19-game point streak.
The last time Dallas played Anaheim was in California where the Stars beat them 4-2. The question at the beginning of tonight’s game was, “Will Marty produce?” And the answer is a resouding, "Yes."
The Stars chased Anaheim in circles before the Ducks scored about a minute and a half into the 1st period. Off a Ryan Whitney pass, Saku Koivu nets the puck past Dallas’ uncohesive defense coverage. The Stars spent the rest of the period in Duck ice. Even with Daley, Skrastins, Lehtinen , Modano, and, as Razor proclaimed, a “rectum rattler by Fistric.
Stephane Robidas got a 5 minute major and 2 minute minor for hitting Ryan before he got the puck, which was slow around the boards. Anaheim right wing Teemu Selanne fractured a bone in his left hand and did not play in the third. He had an assist on the Ducks' goal.
The second period began in the same end of the ice as the first period, but fortunately, it was the right end with Marty in goal.
Jere Lehtinen pressured #19, Ryan Whitney, behind Jean-Sebastian Giguer's net finding James Neal stick. With a soft shot, the puck trickled off the skate of Ducks defenseman James Wisniewski and past Giguere at 1:50. It was Neal's 12th goal of the season.
About 3:01, Steve Ott’s shot scoots in between Giguere’s leg and into the net. Louis Eriksson gets the assist. Ott had gone 13 games without a point and Neal was without a goal in his past six.
Skrastin’s finger was cut when Evgeny Artyukhin skated over it. Skrastin continued to play until he could get off the ice.
Brenden Morrow added a long empty-net goal for the Stars in the final minute, giving Dallas a much needed win and the Ducks their 7th straight road loss.
There were no power point scores for either team tonight. The Stars have scored three goals or less in 13 of their last 15 games.
Coach Crawford said in an after-game interview that the Stars “had good line changes”. He said Marty was the difference. Marty said it was “hurry and hustle” in the 3rd period.
- The #1 star of the game was Marty Turco. Marry Turco stopped 26 shots and improved to 22-9-8 lifetime against Anaheim.
- The #2 star was Steve Ott.
- The #3 star was James Neal.
NOTES: Whitney played in his 300th career game. ... Morrow has goals in five straight games. ... Dallas is 15-5-2 against Anaheim at home since 2002. The healthy scratches were Brian Sutherby and Kris Barch.
NEXT GAME: The Dallas Stars play the Edmonton Oilers in Dallas Saturday, Dec. 5th, at 1:00 p.m. making room for the Mavericks game at 7:30 p.m. on Fox Sports Soutwest.
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