Saturday, April 5, 2008

Phoenix Coyotes 4, Dallas Stars 2

By Mark Stepneski of Andrew's Stars Page

DALLAS — The Dallas Stars had a slim chance of getting home ice in the first round of the playoffs. After Friday night that chance turned into none. The Stars lost to the Phoenix Coyotes 4-2 at the American Airlines Center, assuring them the fifth seed and a trip to Anaheim next week to open the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

"You've got to look at the big picture. We want to be healthy going into the playoffs, but you also want to be playing well," said defenseman Philippe Boucher. "We still had a chance at home ice. Obviously we know we are going to start in Anaheim. We know we have to play better."

Said Stars captain Brenden Morrow: "It's Game 81, we'd better find something else in the tank because that wasn't good tonight. This was lackluster.''

The Stars, who were without Mike Ribeiro and Brad Richards again and lost Steve Ott to the flu early in the game, outshot the Coyotes 32-21, but Phoenix goalie Mikael Tellqvist was outstanding in making 30 saves. The Stars gave up two goals on breakaways that helped Phoenix hold a 3-2 lead when they finished off the game with an empty-net goal.

"We dominated the game, we just didn't score," Tippett said. "We didn't allow a lot of chances, but we shouldn't be giving up breakaways. That's the bottom line."

Daniel Carcillo provided most of the Phoenix offense, scoring three of his team's four goals in the game.

"It's a pretty special night and I haven't had one in a couple of years since Juniors," Carcillo said. "First career hat trick in the NHL, its a pretty good feeling."

Trevor Daley and Philippe Boucher scored goals for the Stars, who lost for the tenth time in the last 13 games (3-8-2). Marty Turco stopped 17 of 20 shots in taking the loss in goal.

"I thought we had a [work ethic] right through tonight," said Stars coach Dave Tippett. "We had a lot of people who worked awful hard tonight."

The Stars controlled play in the first period, but the Coyotes took a 1-0 lead when Carcillo scored from the slot 2:51 into the game.

The Stars, who outshot the Coyotes 12-6 in the period and had three power play chances, finally cashed in at even strength on a three-on-two rush. After taking a pass from B.J. Crombeen, Steve Ott set up Daley, who joined the rush and scored from the top of the crease at 18:10 of the first.

Carcillo put the Coyotes ahead again with a power play goal at 3:39 of the second period when he scored on a breakaway that was set up Steve Reinprecht.

Just 1:01 later the Stars drew even with a shorthanded goal when Boucher finished off a two-on-one break by taking a pass from Stu Barnes and roofing a shot over Coyotes goalie Mikael Tellqvist.

Phoenix regained the lead with another breakaway goal - this one at even strength - by Martin Hanzal. After taking a pass from Zbynek Michalek, Hanzal broke in on Turco and slipped the puck through the five-hole at the 13:13 mark.

The Stars outshot the Ducks 12-4 in the third, but couldn't get another puck past Tellqvist. Carcillo scored into an empty net with three seconds left to round out the scoring on the night.

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