Still no change on the road, Van beats Dallas. Stars @ Oilers tonight
By Editorial Staff
Vancouver 4, Stars 3 = another road L
Well there you have it folks. Another road game, another good effort for part of the game, but in the end it equals another lose on the road for the Dallas Stars. The Vancouver Canucks came back from being down 2-1 halfway through the game to take a 4-2 lead in the 3rd period, and ended up beating the Stars 4-3. The first period looked about even, if not slightly in the Stars favor. The two teams come out tied 1-1 after goals by each in the last 5 mins of the period. Then the second period started and Dallas continued to get some better chances and was looking to be the slightly better team. Toby Peterson booms a shot when the Stars are killing a penalty and Roberto Luongo missed a simple shot and Dallas takes a lead right about the half-way mark of the game. But then in the final minute of the second the game took another swing, and this time not in Dallas’ favor. Alex Auld makes an attempt to handle the puck while Dallas is on a power-play and a mishandle leads to a Canucks short-handled goal. It completely took the momentum away.
Both teams come out in the third and 5 mins in Christian Ehrhoff comes flying in full speed to join a Van rush and no one even tries to pick him up. THAT is the type of offensive play Marc Crawford wants from the Dallas defense-men. And that changed the game again. Dallas gives up another one late and graps one with 3 seconds left to make it look decent. Dallas looked like they could have picked up a win, if not at least a point until Auld tried to stick handle past Alex Burrows and it cost him (and the team). Then Vancouver came out in the 3rd period and right away got the lead.
Tonight: Stars @ Edmonton Oilers, 8pm CST on FSSW+ and on FSN after the mavs game
Stars continue this 3 game trip with a stop in Edmonton tonight. 8pm start tonight. Remember the days of Stars vs Oilers facing-off in the playoffs what seemed like every year? Those were the days! Now we just have two teams on the lower half of the Western Conference. While Dallas is trying to jump back up into the playoff pack of teams, Edmonton is done. They have only put up 38 points in the standings and are dead last in the West. IF (big if) the Stars can end this horrid road losing streak this weekend my money is on tonight in Edmonton. Stars vs Oilers games are always gritty and interesting to watch. I think Dallas finally snaps this streak tonight.
Game Notes: Marty Turco will be back in net tonight for the Stars. Understandable since tonight is the second of a back-to-back. But now there is some talk about can Marty earn his job back because of Auld’s mess-up last night and a decent showing tonight. I think if Turco plays amazing, I mean steals this game and only allows 1 goal or none, then put him back in the net Sunday at Colorado. But 0therwise the change has been made and the message has been sent that Turco’s time in Dallas is about up. So most likely we will see Auld back in net Sunday.
Tom Wandell, Morrow, and Lehtinen all will miss tonight’s game with injuries. Wandell got injured last night and the report going around is we probably won’t see him tonight and probably not Sunday either. So with Ribeiro out long-term, and Wandell added to the list Dallas is now healthy in that young D-corp but down 4 guys who would be in the line-up every night if healthy in the forwards. Not a good thing for the injury bug to be attacking the Stars as they try to get back up in the playoff hunt. Hopefully either Morrow or Lehtinen can be back Sunday, but now its it getting harder for Crawford to put 4 good lines out there and put out a couple of solid scoring lines.