The Dallas Stars made sure they weren't going to let another overtime game slip away. Jussi Jokinen scored the lone shootout goal and added one in regulation, and Mike Smith made 33 saves to give the Stars a 3-2 come-from-behind win over the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Wednesday night October 17th..
Jokinen, meanwhile, used a nifty delayed deke in scoring his 16th career shootout goal. Smith then denied Columbus forward Rick Nash's final attempt to earn his first win of the season.
"This is a big two points," Jokinen said. "This gives me a lot of confidence in the handful of moves I feel I have. I played with (Fredrik) Norrena in Finland, so it was nice to bury one on him."
Smith was activated off injured reserve prior to the game after missing three contests because of an arm injury. He turned aside all but one of the 28 shots he faced in the first two periods to help Dallas stay in it and win for just the second time in the last six tries against the Blue Jackets. The Stars had won 17 of the first 19 games of this series.
"I think Jussi comes up with new shootout moves in his dreams at night," Smith said. "This was a timely win for us. We had to find a way to get some points. I thought I was in for a long night when I faced a Nash breakaway a minute in, but we settled down and I was able to hold down the fort until we tied it."
One night after putting together a dominating, complete-game all-around effort, the Dallas Stars fell flat with 5-1 loss to the Nashville Predators Saturday night October 6 at the Sommet Center. The Stars fell flat in Nashville, losing 5-1. The Predators upped their lead to 2-0 on a power play, when J.P. Dumont ripped a wicked wrist shot over Mike Smith's shoulder from the right circle. While Smith lost his stick and took Stephane Robidas’ as a temporary replacement, Marek Zidlicky fed Dumont with a crisp cross-ice pass. Displaying behavior that some might call classless, Nashville fans booed Mike Modano every time he touched the puck and occasionally heckled him, often following up with, “You suck!”
Following a three-day break after a disappointing loss, the Dallas Stars delivered another surprisingly sub-par performance, running their season-high winless streak to four games as they lost 5-3 to the St. Louis Blues Thursday night at the ScottTrade Center. In the first of four straight contests against clubs that are out of the playoff picture, the Stars lost ground in the battle for post-season positioning. They remained 10 points back of Anaheim for the Pacific Division lead and one shy of San Jose for second in the division and fifth in the Western Conference. They also stayed tied with Calgary for sixth, while Minnesota, who beat Boston earlier Thursday, also tied them to create a three-team tie for spots 6-8. The Stars held at least one game in hand on all of the above clubs.
Dallas fell to 0-2-2 in their last four to that point, although the last two losses were the only ones in which they did not record a point in the standings in the previous nine. Even with the defeat, the Stars were still 7-3-3 over the last 13 contests at that point. Doug Weight scored two goals, Jay McClement had three assists and both Lee Stempniak and Eric Brewer had a goal and assist to lead the Blues' offense. For the Stars, Mike Modano inched ever closer to a looming milestone, scoring his 498th career goal, and added an assist, while Jere Lehtinen and Philippe Boucher also connected. Rookie Mike Smith took the loss in net, making 24 saves. The Stars' special teams did not come through for them, failing to cash in on two lengthy 5-on-3 power plays in the game, including one midway through the third period for 1:25 trailing 3-2. Dallas entered the night tied for first in the NHL with 13 goals while enjoying a two-man advantage, sporting a stellar 31.7 % conversion rate.
"The 5-on-3s came at key times in the game and we have to find ways to get goals," said Boucher, whose 12 power play goal leads the club and matched a franchise record for defensemen. "We talk about poise, well I wasn't as poised as I needed to be tonight. When we compete hard and set the tempo, we have a lot of success. When we don't match the opponent's intensity, games like tonight happen. We have to tighten up and play how we know we can play." Overall on the man-advantage, Dallas went 1-for-6, although the goal came with just 12 seconds remaining in a game that was already decided. Even with that one, the Stars are a feeble 2-for-18 over the previous four games.
Meanwhile, Dallas surrendered a power play goal to the Blues, whose PP unit is ranked 29th out of 30 NHL teams. They also got behind early for the second straight game and were constantly chasing it. "We have to compete and find players who are willing to compete," Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "Some guys are competing hard but some are not where we need them to be. We are going to play the guys who want to compete. Soft skill isn't going to cut it this time of year and needless to say, I'm very frustrated right now."
With the Stars struggling offensively lately, entering the contest with just three goals in the previous three outings, Tippett shuffled around the forward lines. Among the new combinations was Modano centering rookies Loui Eriksson and Chris Conner, who was just recalled from the minors Thursday, and that unit accounted for their first goal. "Mo played his best game in a while and I thought Loui and Conner were excellent," Tippett said.
With all the trouble the Dallas Stars had been having scoring goals recently, it seemed like it might take a shutout for them to win, and Marty Turco delivered just that. Stopping all 30 shots he faced, Turco led the Stars to a 3-0 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets Friday night at Nationwide Arena. It was Turco's 30th win of the season, the fourth straight season that he has reached that milestone, and snapped the Stars' season-high four-game losing streak. After going 0-2-2 in their previous four and scoring only six goals over that span, the Stars picked up some much-needed points in the ongoing race for post-season positioning.
Dallas moved ahead of San Jose for second place in the Pacific Division and fifth in the Western Conference, and to within eight points of Anaheim for the division lead, at least temporarily (both clubs played later Friday night). They also managed to stay just ahead of Minnesota and Calgary, each of whom are within two points of Dallas in spots seven and eight. Columbus entered the night on a three-game winning streak, started by their 3-2 shootout victory over the Stars one week earlier at the American Airlines Center. Since then the Blue Jackets hadn't lost and the Stars hadn't won, but Dallas was able to reverse the trend. The Stars were led offensively by defensemen Sergei Zubov, who scored a goal and an assist, and Philippe Boucher, who contributed two assists. Niklas Hagman and Mike Ribeiro also scored.
But Turco was their best player, turning aside several excellent Columbus scoring chances and keeping them off the board early until the Stars regained their footing. "This was the best I have felt in a long time," Turco said. "I was seeing the puck well and our D played really well in front of me. A lot of times, early action like I saw tonight gets you into a rhythm. We knew we were facing a huge test tonight so the shutout is nice, but the win is even better." Another key for the Stars was the renewed success of their special teams, which had let them down the past couple of games. This time, Dallas connected twice on the power play, including the crucial first goal of the contest, and their penalty killing had a perfect outing, overcoming all three Columbus man-advantage opportunities.
"Marty was excellent tonight and made some great saves early," Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "We played a solid team game, we had excellent special teams and we have to build on this one. We are obviously better when we aren't chasing, and we know we need to play hard on the puck and win battles. We did that tonight and played very soundly."
The Stars had to overcome an outstanding game at the other end by Columbus goaltender Fredrik Norrena, who entered the night 2-0-0 against the Stars this season with a 1.44 goals-against average and a .940 save percentage. Norrena made 28 saves, many of them difficult ones. "When we get challenged, whether it is from our coaches or the other team, we have shown we are capable of responding," said Boucher, whose two assists helped him set a career-high in points. "We have to bring our A game' every night. Marty was great tonight. You see lots of ice packs lately and we showed a lot of heart and sacrifice tonight."
After collecting two goals in his previous three games, Mike Modano had another impressive showing, once again skating on a line with rookies Chris Conner and Loui Eriksson. After scoring just once in the first 13 games since his return to the lineup while still battling the nagging hip muscle injury that caused him to miss 23 earlier this season, Modano finally seems back like his past self lately. Despite not scoring, he played a determined game in his quest for 500 career goals, leading the Stars with four shots on goal. He remained at 498, tied with Glenn Anderson for 39th in NHL history and four behind Joe Mullen for the most among American-born players.
It could have been a highlight film from five years ago, watching Mike Modano pick up the puck at center ice and fly into the opponents' zone and unleash a wicked snap shot to score a big goal. But it wasn't a highlight, it was Modano scoring his 499th career goal 35 seconds into overtime to lead the Dallas Stars to a dramatic 4-3 victory over the Los Angeles Kings Sunday afternoon at the American Airlines Center. It was Modano's third goal in his last five games, and leaves him in 39th place on the NHL's all-time list of goal scorers. He is also now just three behind Joe Mullen's record for American-born players.
Despite surrendering the first goal of the game for the fifth time in their last six games, the Stars rebounded to win their second straight, and keep pace with the three other teams (Minnesota, San Jose, Calgary) in spots 5-8 in the Western Conference that entered the day separated by just one point. Dallas is now 14-5-4 in their last 23 contests and 9-2-2 in the last 13 home games. It was the fifth time in the past eight games the Stars needed extra time to decide things, and the sixth in the last 10.
"It was one of those games where a lot of stuff happens, some good and some bad," Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "We're fortunate to get the last good." The Stars have dominated the season series between the clubs this season, winning all seven meetings by a combined score of 26-14.
After shutting out Columbus Friday night, Marty Turco was solid in goal again, making 18 saves, while the Dallas offense was led by regulation goals from Ladislav Nagy, Trevor Daley and Niklas Hagman. Sergei Zubov added three assists and Jussi Jokinen contributed two. The Finnish Line of Jokinen, Hagman and Jere Lehtinen were especially creative, seemingly generating scoring chances every time on the ice. "Pretty hard not to be pleased with them tonight," Tippett said. "They were the best line on the ice tonight by a wide margin. They mesh well and have similar habits."
"I enjoy playing with Hagman and Jere," said Jokinen, who was +2 and had three shots on goal. "They are great players and it makes it easier to have some guys who speak my language."
On the first shift of OT, Modano took a pass from Zubov at center, raced across the blue line with the puck, cut across the top of the face-off circles and ripped a quick snap shot that beat LA goaltender Sean Burke over the shoulder for the win.
"It was a good play and it took me a second or two to get it to my forehand," Modano said. "I was just holding my stride a little bit to create some space, let them back off a bit, and that gave me a second." Modano has looked a lot more like his former self, after struggling a bit when he first returned from the hip muscle injury that cost him 23 games and limited his effectiveness for the first 10 games back, in which he scored just one goal and three points. Now that the injury is finally healed, his speed and skating game have come back. "I felt good out there," Modano said. "It feels as good as it has in a long time, back to where it was before the injury, so that's a good sign. That gives me a little bit of confidence to get up and down the ice better and make some things happen."
After two big wins in a three-day period in California, the Dallas Stars can truly say they love S.J.,. Krys Barch scored his first NHL goal, fellow rookie Joel Lundqvist had a goal and an assist, and the Stars overcame yet another injury to post an impressive 4-2 win over the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night February 1st at HP Pavilion. The win completed the short two-game miniseries sweep in San Jose and moved Dallas to within three points of the second-place Sharks in the Pacific Division. The Stars were also three points behind San Jose for fifth place in the Western Conference. Dallas stunned the Sharks with a come-from-behind 3-2 shootout win on Tuesday January 30th.
In what is becoming a regular occurrence this season, the Dallas Stars rebounded from a two-goal first period deficit to defeat the Minnesota Wild 4-2 Tuesday night February, 6th at the American Airlines Center. In Dave Tippett's 300th game as a head coach with the Stars, their power play unit connected for two goals on five attempts, and four different players found the back of the net for Dallas. Philippe Boucher, Mike Modano, Sergei Zubov and Stu Barnes each scored goals, with Zubov snapping a 2-2 tie with just 4:41 remaining in the third period. "We have to score by committee, it's good to see different guys getting on the board," Tippett said. "If we get four, we're usually going to get the win."
Dallas Stars rookie goaltender Mike Smith doesn't quite remember the last goal scored against him, although that is probably more due to the fact that it came after he was hit in the face mask with a shot and suffered a concussion that caused him to miss six games. A clear-headed Smith made his first start in over a month and stopped 32 saves to shut out the Pacific Division-leading Anaheim Ducks, leading the Stars to a 1-0 victory Saturday afternoon February the 10th at the American Airlines Center. It was Smith's third whitewash of the season, coming in his first start since that Jan. 4 game in Edmonton that he left after two periods due to injury. After relieving Marty Turco in the first period of the Tuesday February 6th 4-2 win over Minnesota, Smith stopped 47 consecutive shots on the Dallas net. The win gave the Stars a 7-2-1 record in their last 10 and pulled them to within six points of Anaheim for the division lead, and to within three points of San Jose for second in the division and fifth in the Western Conference.
Who said the Dallas Stars can't score? Jeff Halpern had a goal and two assists, Jere Lehtinen and Philippe Boucher each added a goal and an assist, and the Stars scored a season-high seven goals in an electrifying 7-5 win over the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday afternoon February 11th at American Airlines Center before a national television audience. Trevor Daley, Stu Barnes, Niklas Hagman and Joel Lundqvist also scored for a surging Stars team that came into the game with the fifth fewest goals scored in the league. Dallas won its third straight, and eighth of its last 11. The Stars also beat Colorado for the seventh straight time, sending the Avalanche to their sixth loss in their last eight games.
The San Jose Sharks were just the tonic Marty Turco needed to get back on track. The Dallas Stars, behind goaltender Turco's 17 saves and two goals from Mike Ribeiro, defeated the Sharks 5-2 Sunday afternoon february 18th at the American Airlines Center to pull to within one point of San Jose for second in the Pacific Division and fifth in the Western Conference standings. "Teams are pushing behind us and we're pushing ahead of us," Ribeiro said. "It's important to keep pushing to go up in the standings and work for it. I think we played more of the game with the puck than without the puck.
If they can play like this down the stretch and into the playoffs, the other teams in the Western Conference better start to worry about the Dallas Stars. In one of their most dominating and complete efforts this season, the Stars delivered an impressive performance in defeating the Pacific Division-leading Anaheim Ducks 4-1 Friday night February 23rd at the American Airlines Center. The victory pulled the Stars to within five points of the Ducks, the West's second seed, and to within three of San Jose for second in the Pacific and fifth in the Western Conference and showed that they could match up well with the NHL's best. The fact that the Stars hold two games in hand on Anaheim provides them the opportunity to get even closer if they can win those extra games. The Stars were 10-4-1 in their last 15 and 7-1-1 in their last nine at the American Airlines Center.
For 59 and a half minutes of regulation, it seemed as if the Dallas Stars would be victimized by a hot goaltender, but fortunately for the Dallas Stars, regulation is 60 minutes. Philippe Boucher finally beat Vancouver All-Star Roberto Luongo with just 28.3 seconds left in the third period and then Jere Lehtinen scored in overtime as the Stars defeated the Canucks 2-1 in overtime Sunday afternoon February 25th at the American Airlines Center. With two power play goals against the NHL's top-ranked penalty-killing unit, including one with goaltender Marty Turco on the bench for an extra attacker, the Stars came back in dramatic fashion to walk away with an improbable two points. In an important Western Conference matchup that was a possible preview of a first-round playoff series, the Stars came back to defeat the Northwest Division leaders who were one of the hottest teams in the NHL, riding a six-game winning streak. "If we face them in the playoffs with the goaltending they have and the goaltending we have, you will see a lot of games like that," Boucher said after the fourth 2-1 game between the two clubs this season.
While waiting for one new player to arrive, the Dallas Stars received a major contribution from a newbie already on board. Hours after general manager Doug Armstrong plucked solid defenseman and Los Angeles Kings captain Mattias Norstrom in a trade deadline deal, another recent trade acquisition, Ladislav Nagy, scored 95 seconds into overtime to lift Dallas to a 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night at the St. Pete Times Forum. Nagy, picked up from Phoenix in an exchange 14 days ago, scored his second goal in his sixth game as a Star to put Dallas into sole possession of second place in the Pacific Division. They are now five points behind first place Anaheim, and the fifth seed in the Western Conference. It was the second consecutive win for Dallas in the extra session.
The Phoenix Coyotes continued their hot streak by closing out their six-game road trip with another win, as they downed the Dallas Stars, 5-2, on Tuesday night at American Airlines Center. Phoenix has won seven in a row. Dallas was a step slow for much of the game and Phoenix played a solid 60 minutes to earn the win. "It was a pretty long road trip for the guys and I wasn't one of them that got in at five in the morning," said Eric Lindros. "For whatever reason, we weren't emotionally engaged in the game and if you do that, you are going to be behind," said Stars Head Coach Dave Tippett.
A better third period couldn't make up for a lifeless first and second. The only energy the Stars showed came in the first 15 minutes of the third period. Some games, the Stars can get away with a sluggish period or two and come out with points. Tuesday wasn't one of those games.
Lindros returned to the lineup after missing the last seven games due to injury. He made a great play 10 minutes into the game that led to the first goal. Lindros gathered the puck to the right of the goal and was engaged by Phoenix defenseman Zbynek Michalek. Lindros was pushed down to the ice and from his knees, sent the puck through the crease between two Phoenix players where Niklas Hagman finished the play.
Phoenix's Travis Roche tied the game at 1-1 a few minutes after Hagman's goal with his third tally of the year. The score would stay that way until the middle of the second period.
Power play goals by Ed Jovanovski and Shane Doan in the second gave Phoenix a 3-1 lead after two periods. Dallas' penalty-kill units couldn't keep up with Phoenix's power play, which slipped into passing lanes and found space in the slot.
Dallas received a 5-on-3 power play for 1:40 in the final minute of the period that extended into the third period, but the Stars had to wait until after the second intermission to cash it in.
The Stars came out with more passion in the third. Nearing the end of a 5-on-3 advantage, Jere Lehtinen bulldozed his way to the net, secured a rebound off a Philippe Boucher shot on the left side of the net and squeezed the puck under Coyotes net-minder Mikael Tellqvist just inside the post. The goal cut the Phoenix lead to 3-2 with 14 seconds left on the two-man advantage 42 seconds into the third period. It was Dallas' 12th two-man advantage goal of the season.
Owen Nolan re-installed the Phoenix two-goal lead with 4:18 remaining in regulation and the Stars would get no closer. Doan added an empty net goal in the last minute for the final margin.
"When your energy level isn't as high as it should be, you have to find ways to win," said Boucher. "You have to keep it simple. Going toward to all-star break, we have to put a good stretch together because some of those teams will be chasing us hard."
Stars goalie Marty Turco didn't appear to be on top of his game. Turco allowed several big rebounds in front of the net, and his depleted defense couldn't contain the Coyotes forwards.
Stars center Mike Modano missed his 17th straight game with a hip/groin injury. Modano will be out until at least after the All-Star break, Tippett said Monday. Also out for Dallas are Brendan Morrow (wrist) Steve Ott (ankle) and Mike Smith (slight concussion). Star Darryl Sydor missed the final two periods with what the team termed a "upper body injury."
Dallas dropped to 12-4-0 against the Pacific Division this season, and 4-1-0 vs. the Coyotes. The Stars snapped a five-game winning streak vs. Phoenix, a streak that dated back to last season. The Stars are the only team in the league to have defensemen as their top-two scorers in defenseman Philippe Boucher and Sergei Zubov. That isn't a good sign.
Phoenix's seven-game winning streak is the longest for the team since 1999. Three weeks ago, the Coyotes were sitting eight games under .500 and going nowhere in the Western Conference standings. Now they're the league's hottest team. Coyotes coach Wayne Gretzky said that while stringing together wins is nice, his team has just reached the break-even point (20-20-2) for the first time since Phoenix was 1-1 on Oct. 7. There's plenty of work ahead if the Coyotes hope to challenge the Western Conference heavyweights.
Mikael Tellqvist stopped 29 shots, including all 16 he faced in the second period, to help the Coyotes wrap up a perfect five-game road trip. "We're going to try to ride this wave as long as possible," Tellqvist said. "Nobody thought we'd be in the playoff race a couple of weeks ago."
"I would have bet the whole world we wouldn't have swept all five games," Coyotes center Jeremy Roenick said. "It's totally out of the realm of amazement." The Coyotes have won their last six on the road.
"Our power play has given us a chance, and our goaltenders have taken the pressure off with some big saves," Doan said. "The thing is, we needed this streak to get to .500. That's how deep we were buried."
Most Interesting Blog, June 16, 2008 and six other occasions. Lisa awarded him Best "breaking news" blogger March 31, 2008. Blog of The Day, Christmas Day, 2007. edhardiman wrote, "Falco's tribute to Rocket Richard reminds us all the stars of today stand on the shoulders of giants..." October 23, 2007. Three Golden Swirrly p00p Awards (Hockey, NASCAR and Use of Graphics), FlyingPig, July 18, 2007. 2007 Memorial Day Weekend Trifecta sponsored by williamwilman . Featured on WFORacingFans April, 2007. "Stylin'" award, Dusty, February 07. "One of ten new bloggers to watch" Dudski, January 2007.
One night after putting together a dominating, complete-game all-around effort, the Dallas Stars fell flat with 5-1 loss to the Nashville Predators Saturday night October 6 at the Sommet Center. The Stars fell flat in Nashville, losing 5-1. The Predators upped their lead to 2-0 on a power play, when J.P. Dumont ripped a wicked wrist shot over 
