Vancouver Canucks 5, Dallas Stars 2

by Mark Stepneski of Andrew's Stars Page

DALLAS — The slumping Dallas Stars got off to another good start Tuesday night, but penalties and penalty killing got them into trouble against the Vancouver Canucks. The Stars gave up three power play goals and that turned out to be the difference in a 5-2 loss at the American Airlines Center.

"I thought we played hard. We had lots and lots of try. Five-on-five we were a good team. Special teams killed us and we need a few more saves," said Stars coach Dave Tippett.

The struggling Stars power play didn't help matters, going 0-4 on the night and dropping to 1-24 over the last six games. But it was the penalties and the penalty killing that really hurt on this night. The Canucks wiped out a 1-0 Dallas lead by scoring on three of its first four power plays in a 11:32 span from the middle of the first period to early in the second.

"Frustration leads to penalties. It was one of our keys, not to take penalties and to be disciplined out there," said Stars forward Steve Ott. "They buried those goals and we just continued to dig ourselves a hole from there on.

The loss was the fourth straight for the Stars, who remained in 12th place in the Western Conference and fell to four points out of the eighth and final playoff spot with nine games remaining in the season.

"It's not getting any easier and we're not making it easy on ourselves," said Ott. "Every game is a must win. Thursday is no different, it's a must win again. If not, we keep burying ourselves."

The Stars started strong, outshooting the Canucks early and getting an early power play chance. Only a spectacular save by Vancouver's Roberto Luongo on Stars forward Brendan Morrison kept Dallas from cashing in on that chance with the man advantage.

But the Stars struck a short time later when Morrison got to the rebound a Mark Fistric shot off the end boards and backhanded the puck past Luongo to give the Stars a 1-0 lead 4:44 into the game.

But the first of the Stars' penalties problems came at the 10:32 mark when Stars rookie Fabian Brunnstrom took an offensive zone holding call.

Vancouver's Ryan Kessler scored 34 seconds later when he got a pass from Mats Sundin and beat an off balance Marty Turco with a shot from the slot.

The Canucks got their next big power play chance late in the first when Fistric bloodied Daniel Sedin when he caught the Canucks forward in the mouth with his stick. Fistric went to the penalty box on a double minor. Sedin went to the bench temporarily and then was back on the ice, scoring 1:40 later when a Sami Salo shot from the left point bounced off his skate and into the net with 1:33 left in the first to make it a 2-1 game.

"I got hit by the high stick," said Sedin. "But it was nice to score on the power play. We got the lead and that was huge."

A holding call on Stephane Robidas early in the second gave the Canucks another power play and this time it was Henrik Sedin who did the damage, redirecting a Kevin Bieksa point shot into the net at the 1:38 mark to make it a 3-1 game.

We got some bad penalties today and they scored on three of them," said Stars forward Loui Erikson. "That was the game. They have a good power play and we saw it today"

The Stars would put the Canucks on three more power plays in the second period, but Vancouver didn't score on those and ended the night 3-7 with the man-advantage.

"We kept shooting ourselves in the foot with the penalties," said Tippett. "Every time we'd get some momentum we'd take a penalty and take it away from ourselves."

The Canucks extended the lead to 4-1 at 2:26 into the third period when Kessler drove past defenseman Darryl Sydor and fired the puck through Turco.

James Neal scored on a partial breakaway with 11:00 remaining to make it a 4-2 game. Henrik Sedin scored into an open net with 17 seconds remaining to round out the scoring.

The win lifted the Canucks into a tie with Chicago for fourth place in the West, but the Blackhawks have one game in hand. The Stars, meanwhile, are getting in desperation territory. The have nine games left and are four points out of a playoff spot.

"We've got to approach that next game like it's like our last game," said Morrison. "We've got to win that game."

Notes: Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo stopped 35 of 37 shots on the night. ... Stars goalie Marty Turco made 17 saves on 21 shots. ... James Neal's goal was his 24th of the season, tying with Anaheim's Bobby Ryan for the league lead among rookies.