by Mark Stepneski of Andrew's Stars Page

Mike Ribeiro's highlight-reel goal seals the deal in the shootout.

Stars center Mike Ribeiro reached into his bag of tricks and pulled out a dandy of a move Thursday night in Denver, and it worked. Ribeiro's move, which ended with a between the legs shot, gave the Stars a 3-2 shootout win over the Colorado Avalanche in their next to last game of the season.

With the shootout tied 2-2 and a chance to end it, Ribeiro skated in with his back to Colorado goalie Peter Budaj, slipped the puck between his legs and put the puck on net. The puck hit Budaj, went up in the air and then bounced into the net. It wasn't exactly the way he planned it, but he got the result he wanted.

"'I've been trying that in practice. It seems a lot easier in practice than in shootouts," said Ribeiro. "Got lucky that it hit a stick. He stayed in his net and didn't move much. I'll try to work on it and move the goalie a little bit."

"When you say Mike Ribeiro, I know he's going to try something fancy," Budaj told the Associated Press. "That's his style. I didn't really bite on his (moves) and it just trickled in. It's tough luck."

Fabian Brunnstrom and James Neal also scored in the shootout for the Stars. Brunnstrom scored off a backhand shot and Neal beat slipped a snap shot through Budaj.

Wojtek Wolski and Milan Hejduk scored on the first two shots for Colorado before Stars goalie Matt Climie stopped T.J. Hensick with a poke check, setting the stage for Ribeiro's heroics.

"It was incredible," Brunnstrom said of Ribeiro's shootout winner. "I know Ribs is always doing something crazy on the penalty shot stuff. I knew it was coming."

Brunnstrom scored a power play goal in regulation and Steve Begin also scored for the Stars. Climie, making his third straight start, stopped 25 of 27 shots in regulation and overtime to win his second NHL game.

“There was some good and some bad,” Tippett said. “Climie had another good strong game and a shootout was good for him, a good lesson. We had lots of kids on the power play, [Tom] Wandell was out there quite a bit and we got lots of pucks at the net.”

After a scoreless first period, Colorado took a 1-0 lead with a power play goal, Chris Steward deflected a Raymond Macias shot past Climie at the 12:43 mark.

The Stars drew even 2:20 into the third period with a power play goal of their own. Loui Eriksson set up Brunnstrom, who beat Budaj with a shot from the bottom of the right faceoff circle. Ivan Vishnevskiy picked up the other assist, his first NHL point.

The teams traded goals 52 seconds apart late in the third. Steve Begin was credited with tipping a Mark Parrish shot from the right wing into the net with 3:11 remaining in the game to give the Stars a 2-1 lead. John-Michael Liles beat Climie with a shot from behind the goal line with 2:19 remaining to tie it at 2-2.

The Stars close out their regular season Friday night when they take on the Ducks in Anaheim.

Notes: Marty Turco, who missed the last two games with a lower body injury, dressed as Matt Climie's backup on Thursday. Turco could get the start Friday in Anaheim. ... Colorado's Joe Sakic, who has not played since late November due to back issues, announced after the game that he will not play in the Avalanche's final game this season. He had been hoping to get in at least one game before the season ended.

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