It was an ugly game for most of the first two periods. The Dallas Stars showed some more energy in the third and managed to pull it out. A late goal by Mike Ribeiro and the overtime winner by James Neal got it done. That was a game that looked lost for a long time, and the Stars pulled it out.
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Brad Richards seems to find a way to get involved in the scoring. He had one strange goal in the second and then sent a laser into the net on the power play (two-man advantage, actually) in the third to give the Stars the lead. He's also leading that line, which is producing for Dallas. More on that in my column, which will be online soon at ESPNDallas.com.
Did you see that deflection by Mike Ribeiro? With 2:45 left in the third, Ribeiro got his stick on a Jamie Benn wrister from just inside the blue line and put the puck high on the right corner. It tied a game that the Stars appeared destined to lose in regulation. Ribeiro found a way to make sure that didn't happen.
Neal scored his seventh goal, this one in overtime. Dallas finally got a win in the extra frame. The Stars are 1-0-4 in those games now.
The Stars seemed flat from the beginning. One of you on the in-game chat suggested maybe it was American Airlines Center that was causing the issue, since the building didn't have much energy for the Mavericks on Tuesday, either. Maybe. But whatever the reason, the Stars seem like a different team on the road than at home. Any idea why?
Marty Turco kept his team in it early. But he did allow a strange goal in the second period and then had trouble controlling a rebound in the third. Turco made the save intially, but the rebound went right in front of him and he couldn't find it. Nikolai Kulemin came charging in and Nicklas Grossman couldn't get enough of his body on Kulemin to get him away from the puck. He swept it in to give the Leafs the lead with about 7 minutes left in the game. Still, Turco played well in large spurts of the game. He does seem more in control and calm to me this season. He's solid positionally and then lets his athleticism take over after that.
That was a ill-timed penalty on Brenden Morrow (holding) in the third, and Toronto scored on the power play. The Stars' penalty kill, improving but still a work in progress, stopped the first power play but couldn't stop the second. Toronto is No. 2 in the league on the PP, so that's understandable. But the Stars can't afford penalties like that with the PK struggling a bit so far this season.
Don't the Stars miss Steve Ott? Wednesday was the type of game where he can pump up the energy level when others are struggling. He wasn't out there because of a suspension. And he won't be available Friday either.
Dallas had plenty of icing calls. That's another sign they were sluggish. When in trouble, the Stars shoved the puck down the ice and the Leafs got back to get the whistle. For a while, especially late in the first and early in the second period, it seemed like there was an icing call every minute.
Still, good teams win ugly games. The Stars got two big points on a night when they didn't play their best hockey. That says something about this team.
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Richard Durrett
Richard Durrett joined ESPNDallas.com in September 2009. He writes about colleges, the Dallas Stars and the Texas Rangers. Richard spent nine years at The Dallas Morning News covering the Rangers, Stars, colleges, motorsports and high schools.
