Stars blank Red Wings
2/18/2008DALLAS - Dallas Stars goaltender Marty Turco savored a rare win over the Detroit Red Wings.
Turco made 28 saves for his 32nd career shutout and second victory in 16 tries against Detroit, and Niklas Hagman scored as the Stars handed the Red Wings their season-high sixth straight loss, 1-0 yesterday.
"That team's had my number so it was satisfying to beat them," said Turco after registering his 201st victory. "Now I'm focused on evening things up against them."
Turco nudged his record to 2-9-5 against the Red Wings, helping the Stars improve to 9-1 in their last 10 games overall.
"It's not like he's not trying, he's trying his tail off," Dallas coach Dave Tippett said. "But it was good to see him get results. He had saves at the right time. This has to help him get momentum against this team."
Turco preserved his shutout against the Red Wings with 48.8 seconds left, falling on his back to make a sliding stop on Detroit's Brett Lebda. Turco also denied Johan Franzen with 34.8 seconds remaining.
"I'm running out of words to describe how Marty is playing," Hagman said. "At the start, middle, and definitely the end they had good chances. I don't know how he managed to get some of those saves. We've always had a tough time against Detroit. It was a huge win."
Hagman scored at 3:13 of the third period, notching his career-best 21st of the season and eighth game-winner from a sharp angle to the left of Detroit's third-string goaltender Jimmy Howard.
Howard failed to the control the rebound of Jere Lehtinen's shot, and Hagman lifted the puck over the sprawling Howard, making his first start of the season.
"Lehtinen drove it toward the net and they forgot about me on the back door," Hagman said. "I got a good bounce and it was easy for me to put in."
Howard stopped 30 shots, playing in his seventh career game and getting his fourth career start in place of Detroit No. 1 goalie Chris Osgood.
Coach Mike Babcock gave Howard the assignment after Osgood lost his four previous starts and had been replaced by Howard in the previous two games. Backup Dominik Hasek is out with a hip injury.
Howard was fighting the puck early, but the Stars were unable to capitalize.
"The first couple of shots came off him like crazy, but that's just a kid being nervous," Babcock said.
NOTES: D Brian Rafalski (groin), RW Daniel Cleary (jaw) and D Niklas Kronwall (shoulder) are out for the Red Wings. Rafalski hopes to play in tonight's game at Colorado.
Rangers 3, Sharks 1
NEW YORK - Chris Drury scored a power-play goal and added an assist, and Henrik Lundqvist made 29 saves for New York.
Drury helped set up Ryan Callahan's first-period goal to tie it before sending the Rangers on their way to back-to-back victories with a goal in the second. Callahan added an empty-netter with 1.6 seconds left.
Blackhawks 2, Avalanche 1
CHICAGO - Patrick Lalime stopped 21 shots and defenseman James Wisniewski had two assists for Chicago, which won its third straight game. Martin Havlat and Dustin Byfuglien scored for the Blackhawks.
Lalime lost a bid for his first shutout this season when Colorado's Jaroslav Hlinka scored with 2:25 left in the third.
Penguins 4, Sabres 1
BUFFALO - Evgeni Malkin had a goal and assist and Ty Conklin stopped 36 shots.
Petr Sykora, with a goal and assist, Jarkko Ruutu and Colby Armstrong also scored in a victory that moved Pittsburgh into a tie with idle New Jersey atop the Atlantic Division standings.
Blues 5, Blue Jackets 1
ST. LOUIS - Brad Boyes scored his 31st goal to snap a five-game point drought, Eric Brewer had a career-best four assists and St. Louis scored a season-high three power-play goals.
Rick Nash scored his 31st goal - fourth short-handed - for Columbus.
It's the second short-handed tally of the month for Nash, who has six goals in six games against the Blues this season.
Canadiens 5, Flyers 3
PHILADELPHIA - Alex Kovalev had a goal and two assists to lead Montreal to a win over Philadelphia.
Francis Bouillon scored his first goal in 75 games, and Michael Ryder and Saku Koivu also scored goals for Montreal.
Ducks 4, Flames 2
ANAHEIM, Calif. - Teemu Selanne set an Anaheim record with his 670th point on an assist during the Ducks' four-goal, second-period outburst and Anaheim beat Calgary.
Ryan Getzlaf, Ryan Carter, Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger scored in the period as the Ducks stormed back from a 1-0 deficit against beleaguered goalie Miikka Kiprusoff.
WILD 5, PREDATORS 4
ST. PAUL - Marian Gaborik scored the winner with 4.4 seconds left in overtime, and Minnesota held off a furious rally to beat Nashville.
Gaborik beat Predators goalie Chris Mason from the left circle on a 2-on-1 break after taking a cross-ice pass from Pavol Demitra, giving the Wild the win after Nashville tied it with a three-goal third period. Gaborik finished the game with two goals and an assist.
Petteri Nummelin, Mark Parrish and Pierre-Marc Bouchard also scored for Minnesota, which won for the third time in four games against Nashville this season and improved to 7-2-1 in its last 10 games.