Two Miracles: two road wins and a foot of snow in DFW

Stars 3, Flames 1 & Stars 3, Coyotes 0

Sorry for being late with this, but for those in the DFW area you know we got some heavy snow. I live right by DFW Airport and over 24 hours we got 12.5 inches of snow, something unheard of in Dallas. So that happened Thursday and into Friday morning hours. It was actually the most in a 24 hour period ever here in the area. I did get to catch the end of the Flames game and all of the PHX game, but then had no internet for 2 and a half days, resulting in my tardiness with my posts. But as far as the games: Welcome back Mike Ribeiro, you have made us remember how good you really can be. First two games back, 3 goals and an assist. The Dallas Stars went continued their three game road trip with a 3-1 win at the Calgary Flames. It could be a huge win for this team. It was great for momentum not only for the win, but Marty Turco was again amazing and has to be forcing the management team to think long and hard about trading him or not. The only goal to go by him Thursday night was literally shot in by team captain Morrow. It has been a rough season for him and a lot of the fan-base is wondering about Morrow, but in the end Ribeiro saved him. Ribs scored a beautiful between the legs goal right in front of the Calgary net to tie it up, got an assist on Benn’s early third period goal, and then off a face-off in the closing seconds takes one swipe at the puck and fires it 2/3 of the way down the ice into an empty-net.

Then Dallas goes into Phoenix to play another team in the middle of the playoff hunt, and Dallas silences the Phoenix Coyotes 3-0. After this game, Dallas can not trade Turco without getting something great in return. Turco gets his 4oth shutout of his career and again gets great defense around him, leading Dallas to a win. The game got heated early, as James Neal put a routine shoulder-to-shoulder check on Petr Prucha. Prucha bounces off the glass near the penalty boxes (the boards and glass in PHX are well known for being non-forgiving and very tough), and then is out. Of course Coyote players immediately try to run down Neal keep saying in between periods and after the game that Neal is a dirty player. Problem is if any of them actually watched this hit, they would see it is not head-to-head and is a clean hit. There were a handful of hits harder in the games 1st period then this particular hit. I hope Prucha is okay, but I am getting really pissed at Phoenix fans continuously complaining about this hit. If this type of hit is taken out of hockey, there will be no hitting period. It wasn’t intent to injure, or to kill like some fans from one city only keep saying. From there it got scrappy and rough. A few minutes later Neal stand up for himself and does about even with Hanzal, and then Barch fights twice during the game. But besides Turco, the other big story was newly added Brandon Segal. Segal was claimed off waivers by Dallas from rival L.A. this last week, and in his first game chipped in a goal and had a nice pass to set-up Peterson’s goal that made it 3-0 in the 3rd. Another superior effort from the Stars, and if they played like this even half the time on the road they would be 4th or 5th in the west. But going 2-0-1 on this 3 game trip against 3 teams that are in the top 8 right now is a amazing road trip for this team.

This team probably wishes they could keep playing right now. The Stars are 6-2-1  in their current streak and has won at home and on the road. Turco has had the best two weeks of this season in net, the defense is looking better and the offense is providing timely goals and is clicking when it needs to. With how they are playing, Dallas may make a move but at this point I do not think you can move Turco and Ribeiro just got back from injury and has 3 goals and 2 assists in the 3 games back. So now we start the Olympic break, 1 point out of the last playoff spot and looking like we can make a serious run if we come back after the break playing the same way.

For the next few weeks: GO USA HOCKEY!!! I will give you updates and keep up with trade buzz

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