January
Saturday 7 February 2009 photo 1/2
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02-06-09 Rangers v.s Dallas
2 - 10
DALLAS - Wow, what an offensive explosion.
Onenight after a sub-par effort led to the end of their season-longwinning streak, the Dallas Stars got mad and delivered arecord-breaking performance in response.
Mike Ribeiro scored two goals and two assists and linemates Jere Lehtinen and Steve Ottcollected three points each to lead the Stars to a convincing 10-2victory over the New York Rangers Friday night before a gleefulsold-out crowd at the American Airlines Center.
Afterdropping a 3-2 decision in Colorado the night before, the Starsresponded with an offensive outburst that set a Dallas record with 10goals, including a whopping six in the third period to blow open whathad been a close game.
“Our guys, you could tell, we weren’tsatisfied with the way we played (in Colorado),” Stars coach DaveTippett said. “Our guys came in with a very determined attitude today.Our guys concentrated on the effort and we got a good one.”
“We’ll take it,” Ribeiro said. “We didn’t show up last night. Itlooked like a close game but we didn’t deserve to win last night, andit was a good effort from everyone. Everyone worked hard and eventhough they took the lead, 1-0, we kept pushing them. It’s good to seethat when you have a bad game, you can come back the way we did.”
The Stars claimed their sixth win in their last seven outings and arenow 10-1-1 in their last 12 home contests. Just a couple of monthsafter languishing in 15th (and last) in the Western Conferencestandings, the club moved into a fifth-place tie with Anaheim and holdthe tie-breaker.
In addition to the potent top line’s production, the Stars received production from up and down the lineup.
They got two goals from rookie James Neal, a goal and two assists from fellow rookie Fabian Brunnstrom, three assists from defenseman Matt Niskanen, a goal and an assist from blueliner Darryl Sydor, two assists from Mike Modano and a goal each from Brad Richards and Brian Sutherby.
“It’s nice to get a lot of goals, but all in all we played a solid gametonight,” said Ott, who extended his career-high scoring streak toseven games. “In Colorado we came up very sluggish and we blamed it ona lot of things, but it was nice to come home to a big crowd. Theaccountability just keeps building our character. It’s nice to seeeverybody contribute, but our play was key tonight.”
“Obviously, last night was one of those games that we didn’t have it,”added Sydor, who had one assist in his previous seven games. “Tonight,we just worked hard. Our checkers checked, our scorers scored, and evenour scorers checked and that’s what we have to do. People got mad atthe way we played last night and we came out and played a solid game.”
Meanwhile, at the other end of the ice, goaltender Marty Turco, starting his 22nd consecutive game, made 20 saves for the triumph as the Rangers lost their fourth in a row.
“Embarrassed is a strong word, but that’s where we are,” Rangers centerScott Gomez said. “No one’s going to feel sorry for us. We got to pickit up and we know it.”
One of the keys to the game was thatthe Stars connected for four goals on the power play against theRangers’ penalty killing unit, which entered the day ranked first inthe entire NHL.
“I think what we did was we shot the puckand we won the battles,” Sydor noted. “Last night on our power play, wewere missing passes, our attention to detail wasn’t there, they werewinning the races to the pucks and tonight, we were. It was just work -it always comes down to hard work and attention to detail.”
Leading 3-1 going into the second period after outshooting the Rangers17-8 in the first, the Stars found themselves short-handed early andthe Rangers cashed in on their man-advantage. With Modano feeling shamedue to a slashing call, Nikolai Zherdev connected for his second goalfrom behind the goal line at 3:05. As he stood to the left of the goalbehind the line, Zherdev quickly relayed Michal Roszival’s pass fromthe left point into the crease and the puck again pinballed off Turco’sfar skate and in.
Thefate of the game ultimately hinged on the prime opportunity the Rangershad when a cross-checking penalty on Dallas defenseman Nicklas Grossman gave New York a 5-on-3 advantage for a full 1:45.
But Dallas killed it off, with the Rangers’ best chance coming on a NewYork 2-on-1 with 3:48 left in the period that saw Gomez and Chris Druryracing into the Stars’ zone, but Drury’s wrist shot sailed over thenet.
With the Stars buoyed by the momentum from the kill,they ended up making it 4-2 shortly afterwards on Ribeiro’s second ofthe night and 13th of the season. Ott made it happen with a crushingcheck on New York defenseman Marc Staal, who turned over the puck toRibeiro in the right circle. Ribeiro then cruised in alone on Rangersnetminder Stephen Valiquette and fired a scorching wrist shot justunder his blocker with 1:45 left in the period.
“Otter goes sohard on those defensemen, most of the time, they’ll make a play thatthey don’t want to make, and on my goal there at the end of the second,that’s what happened,” Ribeiro explained. “Otter went to hit him, hemade a mistake and we score. A lot of chances come off forecheck andthose two guys (Ott and Lehtinen) are probably the best around rightnow. They’ve been helping my game and we’ve just been clicking.”
Turco made a big save to preserve the two-goal lead 2:56 into the thirdwhen he snagged Ryan Callahan’s fierce wrister from the left circlewith his glove.
Dallas appeared to salt the game away whenLehtinen collected his sixth of the season at 4:15 of the final period,on another fine play by Ribeiro, but they were just getting started. Ashe was heading behind the goal, Ribeiro slid a slick pass from the leftside of the net out front to Lehtinen, who quickly snapped a shot overValiquette’s glove into the upper right corner of the net.
Butthe Stars were just getting started. Brunnstrom made it 6-2 at 10:46when he received a slick backhand pass from Modano as they crossed theRanger blue line, then unleashed a quick wrist shot from the rightface-off circle that beat Valiquette over the glove again.
Just 39 seconds later, Ott collected his 10th of the season on a powerplay. Parked in the high slot, Ott took a nice pass from Lehtinen outof the left corner and ripped a wrister over Valiquette’s glove hand togive the Stars a five-goal edge.
Another 31 seconds afterthat, Sydor blasted a slap shot from the right point that zinged past ascreened Valiquette low to the glove side for his second goal of theyear and first in 38 games.
"I was just shooting at the net and it just went in,” Sydor shrugged. “I know what my role is.”
That capped off a three goals in 70-second barrage, but the Stars weren’t done.
A holding call to the Rangers’ Brandon Dubinsky turned into a doubleminor when he was assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty forarguing it and Dallas converted both ends of the power play.
First, Neal scored a pretty goal with 4:01 remaining in the third,roofing a point-blank wrister over Valiquette’s shoulder to make it 9-2.
Then, just as the raucous American Airlines Center crowd was chanting,“We want 10,” Brunnstrom carried the puck over the blue line and splitthe Ranger defense. He lost control of the puck in the slot, but Nealwas also charging to the net, picked up the puck and fired anuncontested wrist shot past Valiquette on the stick side with 2:54 togo.
“It’s a good feeling,” Neal said of the third periodexplosion. “You never want to try to embarrass a team or anything likethat, but things were opening up and stuff just happened so fast,putting pucks in the net. But it was a close game early there and itwas a big goal by Ribeiro (late in the second) to get things rolling.”
After the Stars dominated the first several minutes of the openingperiod, the Rangers managed the notch the first goal on a goal Turcoundoubtedly would like to have back. Zherdev chased down a loose puckbehind the Dallas net and quick tried a wraparound at the left goalpostand the puck ricocheted off Turco’s far skate and in at 3:35.
Dallas responded with somewhat of a fluke goal of their own just 35seconds later. Following a dump-in into the Rangers’ zone, Staal leftthe puck for Gomez at the left side of the crease. As Gomez tried tocut across the front of the Rangers crease, Sutherby swooped in and, ina single motion, stripped the puck off Gomez’ stick and jammed it pastValiquette and in.
The Stars enjoyed a 5-on-3 power play oftheir own for 1:08 late in the period and they capitalized when Ribeirostruck at 14:24, although it came one second after the first penaltyexpired. Lehtinen held the puck low in the left face-off circle beforefeeding Ott in front, and although Valiquette made the initial save,the puck fell loose behind him in the crease and Ribeiro quicklyswatted it home.
Richardsextended the Dallas lead to two with just 1:02 remaining in the first.With the Stars on the rush into the New York zone, Richards controlledthe puck along the right sideboards before sliding a pass into the slotfor a hard-charging Loui Eriksson. The puck never actually reached Eriksson, though, bouncing off Ranger defenseman Erik Reitz’ skate and beating Valiquette.
The Stars continue their stretch of 10 out of 13 February games at homewith a matchup Sunday (5 pm start, FSN) against Nashville, another clubin the gaggle of teams fighting for the last playoff spots, and theydon’t expect to have it as easy as it seemed on this night.
“It’s only one game and the schedule won’t be easy,” Ribeiro cautioned.“It’s fun to do that and you enjoy it, but it’s not going to happenevery game and we need to be aware of that.”
STARGAZING
- The 10 goals overall and the six in one period for was the most forthe Stars since moving to Dallas and tied for the second most in thehistory of the franchise. The Minnesota North Stars erupted for eightin one period in a 15-2 win over the old Winnipeg Jets back on Nov. 11,1981.
- The four power play goals is the most by the clubsince netting four Nov. 24, 2006 against Los Angeles. In going 4-for-9overall, the Stars are now a stellar 9-for-25 over their last fivecontests.
- With his two goals, Neal now has 18 on the season,topping all NHL rookies in that category. With 31 games left in theregular season, his 18 goals are already the most by a Dallas rookiesince the club relocated from Minnesota in 1993, surpassing JussiJokinen’s 17 from 2005-06.
- Both Ott and Lehtinen extendedtheir scoring streaks to seven games, which are career-highs for bothplayers. Ott now has 11 points (five goals, six assists) in thosecontests while Lehtinen has nine (four goals, five assists). Ott alsoled the club with nine hits.
- Ribeiro’s big night leaves him with 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in the last seven games.
- Modano’s two assists give him six in the last five contests.
- Brunnstrom returned to the lineup for the first time since Dec. 27after missing 16 games with a high ankle sprain and the flu, a stretchwhich also included a quick conditioning stint in the minors. Skatingon a line with Modano and Neal, he now has five points in his lastthree games played in (two goals, three assists).
- To make room for Brunnstrom, winger Chris Conner sat out as a healthy scratch.
- With backup goaltender Tobias Stephan assigned to Bridgeport of the AHL earlier in the day, goalie Brent Krahn was recalled from Chicago of the AHL and served as Turco’s backup.
- U.S. Olympic gold medalist gymnast Nastia Liukin, who is from Plano, dropped the ceremonial first puck before the game.
- This would have been the fourth career meeting between Joel Lundqvistand his identical twin brother, Henrik, who is the Rangers’ number onegoaltender, but Henrik, who had started eight of the Rangers’ past ninegames, was feeling a touch of the flu and watched from the end of thebench as his backup got shelled. The twins have faced each other threetimes before, the last time being the Stars’ 2-1 win in New York onOct. 20. They are just the third time a set of twins to play againsteach other in NHL history and the first since March, 1994, when Richand Ron Sutter last played on separate clubs.
Three star selections: 1st: MIKE RIBEIRO 2nd: STEVE OTT 3rd: JERE LEHTINEN Winning Goaltender:
Marty Turco
Losing Goaltender:
Stephen Valiquette
<!-- end if previewRecap != null -->
2 - 10
Onenight after a sub-par effort led to the end of their season-longwinning streak, the Dallas Stars got mad and delivered arecord-breaking performance in response.
Mike Ribeiro scored two goals and two assists and linemates Jere Lehtinen and Steve Ottcollected three points each to lead the Stars to a convincing 10-2victory over the New York Rangers Friday night before a gleefulsold-out crowd at the American Airlines Center.
Afterdropping a 3-2 decision in Colorado the night before, the Starsresponded with an offensive outburst that set a Dallas record with 10goals, including a whopping six in the third period to blow open whathad been a close game.
“Our guys, you could tell, we weren’tsatisfied with the way we played (in Colorado),” Stars coach DaveTippett said. “Our guys came in with a very determined attitude today.Our guys concentrated on the effort and we got a good one.”
“We’ll take it,” Ribeiro said. “We didn’t show up last night. Itlooked like a close game but we didn’t deserve to win last night, andit was a good effort from everyone. Everyone worked hard and eventhough they took the lead, 1-0, we kept pushing them. It’s good to seethat when you have a bad game, you can come back the way we did.”
The Stars claimed their sixth win in their last seven outings and arenow 10-1-1 in their last 12 home contests. Just a couple of monthsafter languishing in 15th (and last) in the Western Conferencestandings, the club moved into a fifth-place tie with Anaheim and holdthe tie-breaker.
In addition to the potent top line’s production, the Stars received production from up and down the lineup.
They got two goals from rookie James Neal, a goal and two assists from fellow rookie Fabian Brunnstrom, three assists from defenseman Matt Niskanen, a goal and an assist from blueliner Darryl Sydor, two assists from Mike Modano and a goal each from Brad Richards and Brian Sutherby.
“It’s nice to get a lot of goals, but all in all we played a solid gametonight,” said Ott, who extended his career-high scoring streak toseven games. “In Colorado we came up very sluggish and we blamed it ona lot of things, but it was nice to come home to a big crowd. Theaccountability just keeps building our character. It’s nice to seeeverybody contribute, but our play was key tonight.”
“Obviously, last night was one of those games that we didn’t have it,”added Sydor, who had one assist in his previous seven games. “Tonight,we just worked hard. Our checkers checked, our scorers scored, and evenour scorers checked and that’s what we have to do. People got mad atthe way we played last night and we came out and played a solid game.”
Meanwhile, at the other end of the ice, goaltender Marty Turco, starting his 22nd consecutive game, made 20 saves for the triumph as the Rangers lost their fourth in a row.
“Embarrassed is a strong word, but that’s where we are,” Rangers centerScott Gomez said. “No one’s going to feel sorry for us. We got to pickit up and we know it.”
One of the keys to the game was thatthe Stars connected for four goals on the power play against theRangers’ penalty killing unit, which entered the day ranked first inthe entire NHL.
“I think what we did was we shot the puckand we won the battles,” Sydor noted. “Last night on our power play, wewere missing passes, our attention to detail wasn’t there, they werewinning the races to the pucks and tonight, we were. It was just work -it always comes down to hard work and attention to detail.”
Leading 3-1 going into the second period after outshooting the Rangers17-8 in the first, the Stars found themselves short-handed early andthe Rangers cashed in on their man-advantage. With Modano feeling shamedue to a slashing call, Nikolai Zherdev connected for his second goalfrom behind the goal line at 3:05. As he stood to the left of the goalbehind the line, Zherdev quickly relayed Michal Roszival’s pass fromthe left point into the crease and the puck again pinballed off Turco’sfar skate and in.
Thefate of the game ultimately hinged on the prime opportunity the Rangershad when a cross-checking penalty on Dallas defenseman Nicklas Grossman gave New York a 5-on-3 advantage for a full 1:45.
But Dallas killed it off, with the Rangers’ best chance coming on a NewYork 2-on-1 with 3:48 left in the period that saw Gomez and Chris Druryracing into the Stars’ zone, but Drury’s wrist shot sailed over thenet.
With the Stars buoyed by the momentum from the kill,they ended up making it 4-2 shortly afterwards on Ribeiro’s second ofthe night and 13th of the season. Ott made it happen with a crushingcheck on New York defenseman Marc Staal, who turned over the puck toRibeiro in the right circle. Ribeiro then cruised in alone on Rangersnetminder Stephen Valiquette and fired a scorching wrist shot justunder his blocker with 1:45 left in the period.
“Otter goes sohard on those defensemen, most of the time, they’ll make a play thatthey don’t want to make, and on my goal there at the end of the second,that’s what happened,” Ribeiro explained. “Otter went to hit him, hemade a mistake and we score. A lot of chances come off forecheck andthose two guys (Ott and Lehtinen) are probably the best around rightnow. They’ve been helping my game and we’ve just been clicking.”
Turco made a big save to preserve the two-goal lead 2:56 into the thirdwhen he snagged Ryan Callahan’s fierce wrister from the left circlewith his glove.
Dallas appeared to salt the game away whenLehtinen collected his sixth of the season at 4:15 of the final period,on another fine play by Ribeiro, but they were just getting started. Ashe was heading behind the goal, Ribeiro slid a slick pass from the leftside of the net out front to Lehtinen, who quickly snapped a shot overValiquette’s glove into the upper right corner of the net.
Butthe Stars were just getting started. Brunnstrom made it 6-2 at 10:46when he received a slick backhand pass from Modano as they crossed theRanger blue line, then unleashed a quick wrist shot from the rightface-off circle that beat Valiquette over the glove again.
Just 39 seconds later, Ott collected his 10th of the season on a powerplay. Parked in the high slot, Ott took a nice pass from Lehtinen outof the left corner and ripped a wrister over Valiquette’s glove hand togive the Stars a five-goal edge.
Another 31 seconds afterthat, Sydor blasted a slap shot from the right point that zinged past ascreened Valiquette low to the glove side for his second goal of theyear and first in 38 games.
"I was just shooting at the net and it just went in,” Sydor shrugged. “I know what my role is.”
That capped off a three goals in 70-second barrage, but the Stars weren’t done.
A holding call to the Rangers’ Brandon Dubinsky turned into a doubleminor when he was assessed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty forarguing it and Dallas converted both ends of the power play.
First, Neal scored a pretty goal with 4:01 remaining in the third,roofing a point-blank wrister over Valiquette’s shoulder to make it 9-2.
Then, just as the raucous American Airlines Center crowd was chanting,“We want 10,” Brunnstrom carried the puck over the blue line and splitthe Ranger defense. He lost control of the puck in the slot, but Nealwas also charging to the net, picked up the puck and fired anuncontested wrist shot past Valiquette on the stick side with 2:54 togo.
“It’s a good feeling,” Neal said of the third periodexplosion. “You never want to try to embarrass a team or anything likethat, but things were opening up and stuff just happened so fast,putting pucks in the net. But it was a close game early there and itwas a big goal by Ribeiro (late in the second) to get things rolling.”
After the Stars dominated the first several minutes of the openingperiod, the Rangers managed the notch the first goal on a goal Turcoundoubtedly would like to have back. Zherdev chased down a loose puckbehind the Dallas net and quick tried a wraparound at the left goalpostand the puck ricocheted off Turco’s far skate and in at 3:35.
Dallas responded with somewhat of a fluke goal of their own just 35seconds later. Following a dump-in into the Rangers’ zone, Staal leftthe puck for Gomez at the left side of the crease. As Gomez tried tocut across the front of the Rangers crease, Sutherby swooped in and, ina single motion, stripped the puck off Gomez’ stick and jammed it pastValiquette and in.
The Stars enjoyed a 5-on-3 power play oftheir own for 1:08 late in the period and they capitalized when Ribeirostruck at 14:24, although it came one second after the first penaltyexpired. Lehtinen held the puck low in the left face-off circle beforefeeding Ott in front, and although Valiquette made the initial save,the puck fell loose behind him in the crease and Ribeiro quicklyswatted it home.
Richardsextended the Dallas lead to two with just 1:02 remaining in the first.With the Stars on the rush into the New York zone, Richards controlledthe puck along the right sideboards before sliding a pass into the slotfor a hard-charging Loui Eriksson. The puck never actually reached Eriksson, though, bouncing off Ranger defenseman Erik Reitz’ skate and beating Valiquette.
The Stars continue their stretch of 10 out of 13 February games at homewith a matchup Sunday (5 pm start, FSN) against Nashville, another clubin the gaggle of teams fighting for the last playoff spots, and theydon’t expect to have it as easy as it seemed on this night.
“It’s only one game and the schedule won’t be easy,” Ribeiro cautioned.“It’s fun to do that and you enjoy it, but it’s not going to happenevery game and we need to be aware of that.”
STARGAZING
- The 10 goals overall and the six in one period for was the most forthe Stars since moving to Dallas and tied for the second most in thehistory of the franchise. The Minnesota North Stars erupted for eightin one period in a 15-2 win over the old Winnipeg Jets back on Nov. 11,1981.
- The four power play goals is the most by the clubsince netting four Nov. 24, 2006 against Los Angeles. In going 4-for-9overall, the Stars are now a stellar 9-for-25 over their last fivecontests.
- With his two goals, Neal now has 18 on the season,topping all NHL rookies in that category. With 31 games left in theregular season, his 18 goals are already the most by a Dallas rookiesince the club relocated from Minnesota in 1993, surpassing JussiJokinen’s 17 from 2005-06.
- Both Ott and Lehtinen extendedtheir scoring streaks to seven games, which are career-highs for bothplayers. Ott now has 11 points (five goals, six assists) in thosecontests while Lehtinen has nine (four goals, five assists). Ott alsoled the club with nine hits.
- Ribeiro’s big night leaves him with 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in the last seven games.
- Modano’s two assists give him six in the last five contests.
- Brunnstrom returned to the lineup for the first time since Dec. 27after missing 16 games with a high ankle sprain and the flu, a stretchwhich also included a quick conditioning stint in the minors. Skatingon a line with Modano and Neal, he now has five points in his lastthree games played in (two goals, three assists).
- To make room for Brunnstrom, winger Chris Conner sat out as a healthy scratch.
- With backup goaltender Tobias Stephan assigned to Bridgeport of the AHL earlier in the day, goalie Brent Krahn was recalled from Chicago of the AHL and served as Turco’s backup.
- U.S. Olympic gold medalist gymnast Nastia Liukin, who is from Plano, dropped the ceremonial first puck before the game.
- This would have been the fourth career meeting between Joel Lundqvistand his identical twin brother, Henrik, who is the Rangers’ number onegoaltender, but Henrik, who had started eight of the Rangers’ past ninegames, was feeling a touch of the flu and watched from the end of thebench as his backup got shelled. The twins have faced each other threetimes before, the last time being the Stars’ 2-1 win in New York onOct. 20. They are just the third time a set of twins to play againsteach other in NHL history and the first since March, 1994, when Richand Ron Sutter last played on separate clubs.
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