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Posted on Mon, May. 05, 2008

Morrow makes Dallas Stars forget blown chances

By JENNIFER FLOYD ENGEL

Star-Telegram Staff Writer

DALLAS -- With one minute and 12 seconds remaining in overtime, the Dallas Stars' best and leading scorer this playoffs was handed the game-winning, series-clinching goal by San Jose Sharks defenseman Brian Campbell.

An ugly turnover.

On his stick.

All by himself.

Mike Ribeiro skated toward Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabokov and assembled AAC masses rose in anticipation of one of his patented moves, of a goal, of a clinching victory in Game 6 and a date with Detroit.

He managed only a slow dribbler that barely required a save.

Twenty-eight seconds later, Ribeiro nailed a crossbar.

Add this to Nabokov's brilliant save on Brad Richards 91 seconds into overtime and it was starting to feel very much like victory was not in the Stars.

Until Stars captain Brenden Morrow took matters into his own hands, scoring on a power play 9:03 into the fourth overtime, with assists from Stephane Robidas and Ribeiro.

Nabokov and Marty Turco spent a better portion of Overtime 1 exchanging game- and series-prolonging saves.

Nabokov, glove hand.

Marty, kick save.

Nabokov, stick save.

Marty, sprawling save.

Back and forth, it was like the old McDonald's commercial where Michael Jordan and Larry Bird played H-O-R-S-E. Only every single save had a whole lot of huge, rather than just selling a few Big Macs, on whether or not it was made.

Nor was this just any overtime.

The Stars were either going to be staring down the reality of frittering away a 3-0 series lead, thus and thereby trying to wrangle up an ounce of belief that flying to San Jose for Game 7 was not a colossal environmental waste. Or preparing for their first Western Conference Finals appearance since 2000.

Of course, overtime hockey is always a dicey proposition. You are always a bounce or a stumble or just really bad luck away from skating off the ice a loser.

But with each squandered chance, the Stars seemed to be losing their grip on a series they once had in a bear hug.

Just like you can sometimes smell a horrendously bad day coming on, you can likewise smell a cruel overtime.

And that is what overtime felt like at times in Game 6.

You could hear the nervous in the AAC as Overtime 1 stretched into Overtime 2 and Overtime 3. How many chances does a team get to win a game? One? Two? Or 17, which was the amount of shots the Stars had in the first overtime?

The best, of course, belonged to Richards. And the NHL office in Toronto, again, came into play, because Richards' rising wrister that Nabokov barely snared with his glove as it was crossing the line was oh, so close to being all the way across.

It was ruled no goal on the ice. Toronto took a second look.

It would have been the mother of all makeup calls, a payback for the botched reversal of Morrow's goal in Game 5 because of a supposed "distinct kicking motion" that was neither distinct nor right.

The NHL did not overturn this one. It was the right call. The puck has to be all the way across the line and it wasn't.

It was a series-extending save by Nabokov.

Of course, overtime is rarely easy contrary to evidence provided by this series. But the things do have a feel to them, where you can feel a game slipping away from a team.

Often this is because too much play is in its end. Or a team looks gassed.

Every so often, though, you get the feeling a team is going to lose because it had too many good chances, like it wasted its game-winning goal on almosts and could-have-beens.

Nor did it help how the Stars had reached overtime.

This was the third straight third period they were outplayed. The third straight third period they coughed up a lead. The third straight third period they did not look like the team they had been through the first three games in this series.

Or in the first round.

Back against Anaheim, staring down a chance to finish a team in Game 6, this Stars team landed on the third period with a bang. It was flying all over the ice.

Hitting and skating and taking the game to the Ducks.

To say all of this was lacking Sunday does not do justice to how lethargic and tired and tentative the Stars looked for huge hunks.

It did not help that Ribeiro's line seemed to be permanently tethered to the ice. Were they using Ribeiro's line every other shift? Or did it just seem like it?

I am surprised they had any energy at all.

You knew the third period was going to be everything the Sharks had in them. They have been like the Stars, a little, with playoff failure following everything they did.

And sure enough, one minute and 39 seconds later, Ryane Clowe scored. He squeezed the puck into the tiny hole on Turco's high glove side.

The Stars had nobody to blame but themselves. They had what felt like 1,000 chances to bury this Sharks team since going up 3-0, including 90 by Joel Lundqvist alone in Game 6.

Dallas scored first, hardly a good omen in this series.

Of course, it was Antti Miettinen scoring, so that probably evened out the karma.