Monday, April 21, 2008

Dallas Stars 4, Anaheim Ducks 1

By Mark Stepneski of Andrew's Stars Page

DALLAS — A puck broke Stars defenseman Stephane Robidas' nose Friday night. On Sunday he helped break the so-called first round playoff jinx on the Dallas Stars. Robidas scored a power play goal early in the third period to tie the game and then set up Stu Barnes' game-winner 52 seconds later as the Stars rallied to beat the Anaheim Ducks 4-1 and take their first round playoff series 4-2.

"It's unbelievable. It's an incredible feeling," said Robidas. "I couldn't wait until that game finished after we took the lead. I think everybody on the bench was pretty nervous, but we all know that situation pretty well. Marty [Turco] kept us in the game again. We never give up, that's the bottom line. We played well as a team."

The Stars, who advanced to the second round for the first time since 2003, will now play either the San Jose Sharks or the Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference Semifinals.

"It's bit of a relief," said Stars captain Brenden Morrow. "We got off to a good start in the series, they battled back and fought hard but we earned it tonight. ... We are going to enjoy these days off and get prepared for that next round."

Stars coach Dave Tippett said his feeling wasn't relief.

"It was elation," Tippett said. "I'm so happy. I love to see a group of players that works that hard and does so many things so well, you love to see that emotion in them. It's like all that work really means something. It feels good in your heart."

Marty Turco made 17 stops in the game, including a big stop on Todd Bertuzzi early in the game and some big saves late in the game with the Stars protecting a one-goal lead.

"It would be easy to feel good and stop right here, but that's not the case," said Turco. "For all we've been through, we talk about doing what we're capable of and not just one series. We want to win it all. That's why it's been so disappointing over the years."

"It's been a long time coming," Stars center Mike Modano told FSN after the game. "We're excited. What a series. We're glad we did it in front of our fans. They deserve it."

The Ducks became the fifth straight Stanley Cup champion not to make it beyond the first round of the playoffs the season after winning it all.

"Every guy gave everything they had," said Ducks coach Randy Carlyle. "You thank them for their work ethic over the course of the season, but their lack of execution in the playoffs was a concern and we’ll address that in the offseason."

Things looked good for the Ducks heading into the third period, but they lost their 1-0 lead and things fell apart quickly.

"It just seemed that whatever could go wrong went wrong in a very short period of time," said Ducks coach Randy Carlyle. "We didn’t do a good job of adjusting in the third period and they put the game away."

The Stars trailed 1-0 going into the third period but went on a power play early when Ryan Carter was penalized for holding Brenden Morrow. The Stars, who were 0-3 on the power play in the game and in an 0-18 slump, cashed in on the chance to tie the game. After a Mike Modano shot went wide, Robidas got the rebound off the endboards and beat Ducks goalie J-S Giguere from the right faceoff circle at the 1:18 mark.

Just 52 seconds the Stars struck again when Robidas skated down the right wing, fought through a check by Ducks defenseman Mathieu Schneider along the boards and centered the puck to Barnes, who put the puck into the open side of net from close range at the 2:10 mark.

"I had four-and-half feet to shoot at and I think I picked the corner anyway," said Barnes. "It was a great play by Robidas."

The Stars kept the Ducks from getting much in the way of chances for most of the period, but Turco had to come up with some big stops including a nifty skate save on a redirection attempt by Anaheim forward Todd Marchant.

Brad Richards set up Loui Eriksson on a breakaway and Eriksson beat Giguere with 2:18 remaining in the game to give the Stars a big insurance goal. Mike Modano scored into an empty net with four seconds left to seal the deal in front of a raucous crowd at the American Airlines Center.

After a scoreless first period in which Turco and Giguere both made some nice saves, the Ducks got on the board 2:11 into the second when Corey Perry took a pass from Scott Niedermayer, skated down the right wing and beat Turco with a shot from dot in the right faceoff circle. But that was it for the Ducks, who didn't generate many more chances until late in the game.

"There were a couple of games where we just couldn't mount much of an attack," said Anaheim captain Chris Pronger. "You've got to give them a lot of credit, but part of that falls on us, too."

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Comments

xdavidwattsx Anonymous

Pronger should have also said "we took WAY too many penalties and kept shooting ourselves in the foot".

Second round, bitches! Dallas Cowboys, who?

3 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Scott Doyle Verified

I'm a converted hockey fan as of this season, and this article reminded me to look up the charging penalty on Lundqvist.

Judging from NHL Rulebook, it's entirely at the ref's discretion. Any insight on typical charging calls other than leaving your feet to check someone or making intentional contact with the goalie in the crease? The call yesterday seemed questionable.

3 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

James Scott Verified

Yeah, questionable to say the least. If the puck was nowhere near the play, then yeah, I can almost see that being called - but that wasn't the case.

Obviously, doesn't matter. No sense in whining about bad calls now. That was a great scene in the AAC last night. The crowd hadn't sat down and stopped cheering for the 1st goal before #2 happened - place just went insane at that point.

I decided to go at the last minute, there were still some decent seats available on StubHub for cheap. I don't think I'll get that lucky next round.

3 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

xdavidwattsx Anonymous

It was charging because he went after him from the blue line. You can take a couple of skates towards someone and hit them but if you put someone in your sites from 30 feet out and hit them then it's technically charging. Leaving the feet didn't help.

My personal opinion is that you let that kind of stuff go on the playoffs because everyone is making those kind of hits and there was no intent to injure. They need to swallow their whistle on the discretionary calls.

But yeah, I was there and it was pandemonium in the 3rd period. People were so on edge in the first 2 periods that all hell broke lose.

3 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Scott Doyle Verified

Meh, not whining - just wondering. That's the first charge I've seen called and I wasn't exactly sure what the hell happened since it seemed like just another check (esp in the playoffs).

So how does it work for the next round? If I understand this correctly:

Teams get reseeded and it's 1 vs 4, 2 vs 3. Detroit was 1st in round 1, Colorado was 6...so we're waiting on game 7 between San Jose (2nd seed) and Calgary (7th seed) to determine our round 2 seeding? A San Jose win would mean we're 3-seed and play them b/c they're 2 again, but a Calgary win means we're 2-seed & play Colorado since Calgary would be 4-seed & play Detroit (1-seed by default)? ack ack ack

If for no other reason, I hope Calgary advances so we hit Colorado and away games are mountain instead of pacific time. =p

3 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

James Scott Verified

Yeah, that's basically how it's going to work Scott. Kind of makes it hard to do one of those neat fancy little playoff brakcet office pool spreadsheet things.

I agree about the reasoning for wanting Colorado to win - I think with either team it's going to be a tough 2nd round.

3 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

xdavidwattsx Anonymous

Either team will be tough but I think anytime you have a chance for a top power team like San Jose to get knocked out then you have to root for it. Not that Colorado won't be difficult.

3 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )