Marty Turco and Dallas Stars Hockey

Stars 5, Ducks 2

Greed was very good for the Dallas Stars.

After an impressive Game 1 win two nights earlier, the Stars weren’t satisfied with simply stealing home-ice advantage away from the Anaheim Ducks in their Western Conference Quarterfinal series. The wanted much more, and they certainly got it with another solid performance in a 5-2 win over the Ducks on Saturday night at Honda Center that gave the Stars a commanding 2-0 lead over the defending Stanley Cup-champions in the best-of-seven-series.

Mike Ribeiro had a goal and two assists, Brad Richards and Loui Eriksson each had a goal and assist, and Jere Lehtinen and Mike Modano also scored for Dallas, which hadn’t won the first two games of a playoff series since advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals for the second straight year in 2000.

Marty Turco was once again strong in the nets in making 20 saves, as the energetic and entertaining series now shifts to Dallas for the next two contests, with Game 3 set for Tuesday night at American Airlines Center (7:30, FSN).

“I said from the start that it would be good to start on the road in a hostile environment and dig in together,” Modano said. “We are focusing now on Tuesday, and it is huge to work this hard and head home up 2-0.”

Unlike Thursday’s rout, this one was a roller coaster ride for the Stars for two periods. After grabbing a two-goal lead early in the second period, Dallas’ momentum was throttled when the Ducks scored twice later in the middle frame. But after a couple of spurts in which they persevered through Anaheim’s attempt to take its first lead of the series, the Stars scored twice in a 55-second span in the third to take a major step toward winning their first playoff series since 2003.

“Every year is a different year, and every year has a different feeling,” Stars coach Dave Tippett said. “Hopefully this team is finding its way. We still have a long way to go. I love the way we came in here and competed, but they are the defending Cup champs, and we still have a lot of work to do. This series is just getting going.”

Through the first two games of the series, the Stars have played little like the team that limped into the playoffs after a subpar March. Instead of playing it safe and losing leads in the third period like they were prone to do last month, these playoff Stars have shown none of that conservatism.

“We’ve learned a lot in the past and it’s come in handy the last two games,” Modano said. “Our young guys are playing real well, and after some years of not meeting expectations we are playing real well together.”

Having their two-goal lead evaporate against the best playoff team in the league the past two seasons? No problem. The Stars just regrouped, reloaded and re-took their lost advantage with the help of a three-goal third period that unglued the Ducks.

“We kept hearing that they were going to come out strong, but we said why can’t we come out strong?” Tippett said. “That was our mindset from the beginning of the game and we kept that throughout.”

Fittingly it was Modano, the face of the franchise for nearly two decades, that gave the Stars a 3-2 lead with a power-play goal 5:47 into the third. Then it was Richards, the former playoff MVP who the Stars acquired at the trade deadline, who pushed the lead to 4-2 just under a minute later. And finally Eriksson, the soft-spoken forward that has rewarded the team’s patience with him by scoring a goal in each of the first two games of the series, put the dagger in.

“We dictated a lot of the play and we haven’t been intimidated by them,” Richards said. “It’s been a struggle to fit in with the losses at the end of the year, but we are rolling three lines right now and we need to keep it going. We know it’s only two games and they are the defending champs, so they can definitely rally, but we want to keep this going.”

The Stars’ power play also played a major role in the win, as Dallas scored twice on six man-advantage opportunities after netting four power-play goals in Game 1.

Teemu Selanne and Travis Moen, meanwhile, scored for the Ducks, who came in with an unblemished 5-0 mark in games following a playoff loss. Goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere finished with 25 saves.

The Ducks have been down 2-0 four times in franchise history, and have failed to come back and win the series on all four occasions.

“It doesn’t matter what the score in the game or the series is,” Turco said. “We’ve collected two big wins here, but we know we have a lot of work left to go. They came out strong again and you have to give them credit, but it’s all about sticking with it and we’ve done a good job of that.”  

Modano made it 3-2 when his blistering slap shot from the middle of the blueline beat Giguere while the Stars were on the power play. Richards upped the advantage by snapping a wrister through Giguere’s legs from the right circle, and Eriksson capped the scoring at 14:36 of the third with a wrist shot from the low slot.

“It’s been physical, so you have to skate and keep working,” Eriksson said. “It’s great for us, we’ve played two solid games and we are gaining some confidence. We have to go home and keep playing hard because we know the Ducks are going to keep fighting.”
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from DallasStars.com

Heading into their playoff game with Anaheim, the Dallas Stars wanted to weather the defending Stanley Cup champs’ expected storm during the opening 10 minutes of the first period. They did just that — and much more.

Steve Ott, Loui Eriksson, Jere Lehtinen and Brenden Morrow all scored power-play goals, and Marty Turco made 23 saves for his fourth career playoff shutout in the Stars impressive 4-0 win over the Ducks in Game 1 of their best-of-seven first round series on Thursday night at Honda Center.

Morrow, Mike Ribeiro and Stephane Robidas each added a pair of helpers for Dallas, which won the opening game of a playoff series for the first time since 2001. The Stars will look to sweep the first two games in Anaheim when the teams meet again for Game 2 on Saturday night (9 p.m., my27)

“We couldn’t have drawn it up any better tonight,” Morrow said. “We stayed disciplined and took advantage on the power play. I can’t remember the last time we won Game 1, but everyone contributed and played their roles. It was a huge confidence builder for us.”

J.S. Giguere finished with 33 saves for the Ducks, who lost for only the 13th time in their past 38 playoff games.

After enduring a rough first 11 minutes in which the Ducks outshot them 8-2, the Stars put things in overdrive over the next 22 minutes that bridged the first and second periods. Not only did they score three times with the man advantage to stun the Ducks and take total control of the contest, they also didn’t allow a shot.

The beleaguered Ducks were able to generate more offense after that game-turning and pivotal stretch, but that’s when Turco took over. He spit out puck after puck, making big saves before Morrow scored on the power play with less than three minutes to go in the middle frame to give the Stars a commanding 4-0 lead.

“Marty was great at first, he’s been great all year, and this was just another game for him,” Ott said.

As time expired in that second period, the raucous sellout crowd booed the Ducks off the ice. Fitting, especially since the chances of a comeback from the lowest-scoring team in the postseason were slim to none.

“We had some fortunate bounces, but everybody was really good,” said Stars coach Dave Tippett, who won his first Game 1 of his coaching career. “It was a solid team effort, and you need that to win in the playoffs.”

While the undisciplined Ducks were filling the penalty box by attempting to physically manhandle the Stars, Dallas was busy filling the net. They finished 4-for-7 with the man advantage, and just missed tying a franchise record for most power play goals in a playoff game. Their pinpoint passing and execution had the Ducks defenders befuddled, and they consistently beat Anaheim to loose pucks while skating circles around a team that looked more like a squad that was eligible for the NHL draft lottery that was held earlier this week.

“I think we had confidence coming in, but you earn that confidence,” Tippett said. “We know that we have the capabilities to win, and we had a solid effort throughout.”

Up by two after the first period, the Stars increased their edge to 3-0 on Lehtinen’s power play goal just four minutes into the second. Standing near the bottom of the right circle towards the front of the net, Lehtinen quickly let go a wrist shot that beat Giguere high after Lehtinen received Ribeiro’s pass from behind the goal line.

Morrow cashed in with power-play goal No. 4 with 2:38 left in the second on one of the prettiest passing plays of the game. Lehtinen started it with a sharp pass from the left circle to Ribeiro, who was open to the left of Giguere. Rather than trying to jam the puck past the burly goalie, Ribeiro fed a driving Morrow in the slot, and Morrow made no mistake with a hard shot along the ice.

“Ribeiro, (Brad) Richards and a few of the guys had some time and space, and they are always going to do something when they have that,” Turco said.

“The power play was huge tonight, but you can’t expect that every night,” added defenseman Philippe Boucher. “We didn’t have to kill too many, and it was good to not allow them many chances. Special teams are a huge factor and we’ll take this and move on.”

The Stars opened the scoring on Ott’s power play goal at 11:25 of the first. Drifting towards the outer edge of the right circle along the boards, Robidas sent a little wrist shot toward the net that the gritty forward was able to deflect past Giguere.

“Anytime you score a goal in the playoffs is great,” Ott said. “As long as it goes in the net, that’s all we care about.”

“We just played a simple game,” added Robidas. “They forecheck hard, but we put the puck at the net and got some good bounces. We wanted to take advantage of those power plays because they come at you and play physically. We know its going to be a tough series going forward.”

Dallas’ power play struck again when Eriksson increased the Stars lead to 2-0 with his first career playoff goal. The play began with Mike Modano lugging the puck into the Ducks zone before being taken out by Anaheim defenseman Scott Niedermayer, with Modano sustaining a bloody nose on the collision. Soon thereafter, the puck wound up on Eriksson’s stick in the slot, and the Swedish winger’s connected with a hard wrist shot.

“Winning this is just one game, and we have to keep it going,” said Turco, who has four shutouts in his last eight postseason games dating back to last spring. “The whole team for Game 1 came out and really played well. We stuck to our game plan, and this is a good step for us.”

“We believe in each other in here and we have a pretty balanced group,” Ott said. “It’s only Game 1, it’s going to be a tight series, and we need to be ready for Saturday night.”

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