Sunday, November 16, 2008

Dallas Stars 3, Phoenix Coyotes 2

By Mark Stepneski of Andrew's Stars Page

With Loui Eriksson and Mike Ribeiro providing the offense and Marty Turco delivering the big saves late in the game, the Dallas Stars got back in the win column Saturday night with a 3-2 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes. But there was more than just some big goals and big saves behind the win. The Stars also played some pretty some solid team defense.

"It's good for the confidence to get this win," said Ribeiro. "We played much better defense and when you focus on defense, you have a better chance to win."

Turco made 25 saves and his final one was big as he made a pad stop on Phoenix center Olli Jokinen in the final seconds of the game.

Mark Parrish also scored for the Stars, who snapped a three-game losing streak and won for just the sixth time in 17 games this season (6-8-3).

"We got the win," said Eriksson, whose two goals gave him a team-leading eight for the season. "We needed those two points."

Stars coach Dave Tippett juggled his lines and defensive pairings for the game. Among the moves was putting in defenseman Doug Janik and sitting Philippe Boucher.

"I thought we came out and played a very solid first period," Tippett said. "We got ourselves into trouble turning the puck over in the second period, but had a pretty strong third to get the win.

"We were solid defensively and we cleaned up a lot. We have to continue to limit the mistakes and play as a team to give us a chance to win.

The Stars had some areas go well on this night. They got a lead for once and played with the lead for a good part of the game. They won the special teams battle, scoring on one of three power play chances and killing off both Phoenix power play chances in the game. They were dominant in the faceoff circle, winning 34 of 48 draws in the game.

The Coyotes, who fell to 8-7-0 on the season, lost for the second straight game after having put together a three-game winning streak.

"We had one line that played really well but we didn't have enough out of everybody else tonight," said Coyotes coach Wayne Gretzky.

Eriksson's first goal of the night gave the Stars the lead 17:06 into the game when he took a pass from Ribeiro and beat Coyotes goalie Ilya Bryzgalov with a backhand shot from the right faceoff circle.

"Loui has been playing very well for us and got some big goals," Tippett said. "He's also been solid defensively and just keeps getting better."

After Phoenix tied it early in the second on a Steve Reinprecht close range shot off the rush, the Stars scored two straight goals in the second to build a 3-1 lead. Parrish deflected a Sergei Zubov point shot past Bryzgalov with the Stars on the power play at 8:13 of the second.

Eriksson scored with 55 seconds left in the second off the rebound of a Ribeiro shot to give the Stars a two-goal lead. Phoenix bounced back 17 seconds later with a Kevin Porter goal, but that was it for the scoring in the game.

The Stars didn't give Phoenix much in the third period. The Coyotes' best chance came with just under ten seconds remaining when Jokinen got his shot close range, but Turco was up to the challenge and the Stars, who don't play again until Thursday, head into their break on a positive note.

"This is the kind of effort from which we can build," Stars center Mike Modano said. "We're noted for playing good defense and, if you're playing that game at its peak, we're a tough team to beat."

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