Turco, Stars play tough defense to beat Vancouver

By MIKE HEIKA

Special to the Star-Telegram

DALLAS — As re-tests go, you couldn’t have had much better timing for the Stars.

On the heels of one of its hardest losses of the season, Dallas was faced with an almost identical game Friday against the Vancouver Canucks.

And this time the Stars won.

The Stars scored on the power play, defended on the penalty kill and held onto a one-goal lead in a furious third period to beat Vancouver 2-1 at American Airlines Center. It was a huge statement for a Dallas team that allowed Calgary to score with 49 seconds left in regulation Wednesday and ended up losing in overtime.

"The attitude is the key, and whether it’s learning to win or just understanding what it takes, I think tonight was a huge step, especially after what happened against Calgary," said Stars goalie Marty Turco, who finished with 32 saves, including 16 in the third period.

Turco was spectacular down the stretch with a one-goal lead, as Vancouver earned a 5-on-3 for 18 seconds, and a total of almost four minutes of power play time. He received plenty of help from penalty killers, such as Karlis Skrastins and Brad Richards, as the Stars as a team stood up.

"It was a difficult game to take the other night, maybe the most difficult of the year," Richards said. "You’ve got to will yourself to a win sometimes, so it’s a huge win to come back and do what we didn’t do the other night."

The Stars once again faced a backup goalie, they were facing a tired team, and they dominated play for long stretches. Still, they couldn’t seize control of the game.

As Calgary backup Curtis McElhinney did on Wednesday, Canucks No. 3 goalie Cory Schneider was frustratingly good in net for the opposition. Dallas had 40 shots on goal through the first two periods and finished the game with 47.

The Stars had opportunity after opportunity and didn’t score until Richards put a near-perfect shot past Schneider at the 8:05 mark of the second period.

Richards snapped off a wrister that went into the upper left corner of the net and gave Dallas a 1-0 lead. The Stars then capitalized on a third-period power play to make it 2-0. Loui Eriksson drew the penalty, and Jamie Benn drove the net looking to create a goal. The puck skittered out of pile of bodies on that play, and Brenden Morrow slapped it in for what turned out to be the game-winner at the 3:50 mark of the third period.

But the excitement wasn’t over, as Mason Raymond poked a rebound past Turco at the 8:14 mark, and the Canucks had their two power plays in the third period.

The Stars stood strong, took a victory and moved to 7-3-6, good for 20 points. The Canucks fall to 10-8-0.

"You do have to learn every year how to do this," Turco said. "Tonight there was a lot of desperation. Nobody was saying we deserved to win it after two periods. We wanted to back it up in the third."

Now, they get a chance to see if they can back it up at Minnesota on Saturday.

"Last week, our game started to go like this," Richards said while moving his hand in a downward motion. He then paused and moved his hand in an upward motion. "This week, it’s going like this, and that’s a good thing."

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