Dallas Stars 5, Calgary Flames 2

by Mark Stepneski of Andrew's Stars Page

The Dallas Stars rolled out another solid effort Friday night and this time they were rewarded with two points, beating the Calgary Flames 5-2 at Pengrowth Saddledome.

Alex Auld stopped 21 shots in his Stars debut, five different Stars scored goals, and 11 different players registered points in the win, the Stars' first of the season after two shootout losses to open the season.

"We've played well throughout this early part of the season, but when you get a victory it builds some momentum and a belief in how you play," said Stars head coach Marc Crawford.

The Stars took advantage of a Calgary team that played the night before, scoring on their first shot of the game, extending the lead on their first shot of the second period and keeping the pressure on Calgary most of the game.

"I thought our pace was very good tonight. Our guys really bought in to keeping quick shifts to keep the tempo and the pace of the game high," said Crawford.

Auld making his first start as a Dallas Star was very sharp, especially in the first period when he faced eleven shots on goal and the Stars were protecting a 1-0 lead.

"I thought he managed the game pretty well. We were pleased with his positioning," said Crawford. "We thought they would throw a lot of pucks at the net, and Alex is a stop and block goaltender. I thought his puckhandling was really good, so you can see Marty [Turco's] influence."

Said Auld: "I felt good and I obviously got a lot of help in the offensive end. It's a first chance to make an impression and it turned out pretty good."

Auld won the battle of the backups against Calgary's Curtis McElhinney, who gave up a goal on the first shot of the game, the first shot of the period and then got beat on a long shot by Tom Wandell that extended the Stars' lead to 3-1 in the second period.

"Could he have been better? Yes," Flames coach Brent Sutter said of his goaltender. "But he was probably like a lot of other guys."

The Stars took the lead 1:02 into the game when Mike Ribeiro scored off a rebound and never looked back, extending the lead to 2-0 when Brian Sutherby scored just 55 seconds into the second period.

"Setting the tone like that was huge for us," said Auld. "We were able to stick our game plan throughout the whole game five-on-five. I thought we played very well."

Tom Wandell, Loui Eriksson, and Brad Richards also scored for the Stars. Stephane Robidas had two assists and he and defensive partner Nicklas Grossman were both a plus-five in the game.

"Robidas and Grossman did a terrific job," said Crawford. "They were up against the Iginla-Jokinen line and I thought they did a terrific job."

The loss was the first of the season for the Flames, who opened the season with four straight wins. The Stars, now 1-0-2 on the season, wrap up their three-game road with a game in Vancouver on Sunday evening.

Game recap

The Stars struck 1:02 into the game and on the first shot of the game. Jamie Benn got to a loose puck along the boards and got to Trevor Daley, who put a shot on net and Mike Ribeiro scored off the rebound.

Alex Auld made 11 first period saves, including a couple nice back-to-back stops on Dustin Boyd in close, made a nice save on Jarome Iginla and another sharp stop on Rene Bourque late in the period.

Flames goalie Curtis McElhinney, making his first start of the season, came up big to keep in a 1-0 game in the first period, making a nice stop on Tom Wandell and another slick stop on Loui Eriksson's power play bid.

The Stars 55 seconds into the second period when the Stars got control of the puck in the Calgary zone and Toby Petersen made a backhand pass to Brian Sutherby, who scored from close range.

The Flames cut the Stars lead to 2-1 with a power play goal at 4:17 of the second. Right after a Calgary faceoff win, Dion Phaneuf beat Auld with a blast from the left point.

But the Stars extended their lead to 3-1 at 9:00 of the second on just their third shot of the period when Tom Wandell put a shot on net from the right wing and puck hit McElhinney, bounced up in the air, over the Flames goalie and into the net.

The Stars came close to making it a 4-1 game, but Steve Ott's shot on a two-on-one beat McElhinney, but rang off the post.

The Flames cut the Stars' lead to 3-2 with a power play goal 5:17 into the third period when Rene Bourque scored off a rebound.

But the Stars were able to extend the lead to two goals a little more than four minutes later when a Brad Richards centering pass bounced off both Flames defenseman Jay Bouwmeester and Stars forward Loui Eriksson and into the net.

Richards sealed the win with an empty net goal with 46 seconds remaining.