Playoff Match Results - 18-Apr-08

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Click below to view the results of the following games played today:

New Jersey Devils @ New York Rangers (G6)
Nashville Predators @ Detroit Red Wings (G5)
Anaheim Ducks @ Dallas Stars (G5)

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Tags: Anaheim, Apr, Brad Richards, brandon dubinsky, Brendan Shanahan, Brenden, Brian Gionta, Bryce Salvador, chris drury, Chris Kunitz, Chris Pronger, Dainius, Dallas, Detroit, Devils, Elias, Filppula, J.P. Dumont, Jamie Langenbrunner, Jaromir Jagr, Jere, Johan Franzen, Lehtinen, Martin Straka, Match, Matt Niskanen, Mattias, Michal, Mike Ribeiro, nashville, New Jersey, New York, Nigel Dawes, Niklas Kronwall, Norstrom, Patrik, period, Perry, play, playoff, power, predators, Radek Bonk, Red, Rich Peverley, Rozsival, Ryan Callahan, ryan getzlaf, scott gomez, sean avery, Sean O'Donnell, Stars, Teemu, today, Todd Marchant, Travis Zajac, Valtteri, Wings, Zach Parise, Zubrus

Playoff Match Results - 15-Apr-08

Click below to view the results of the following games played today:

Washington Capitals @ Philadelphia Flyers
Boston Bruins @ Montreal Canadiens
Anaheim Ducks @ Dallas Stars
Minnesota Wild @ Colorado Avalanche
San Jose Sharks @ Calgary Flames
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Tags: Alex Tanguay, alexander ovechkin, Alexander Semin, Alexei, Andrew Brunette, Arnason, Avalanche, Boston, Braydon, Brenden, brian rolston, Brooks, Bruins, Calgary, canadiens, Capitals, Chris Pronger, click, Clowe, Coburn, Colorado, Daniel Briere, Dave Steckel, Daymond, Devin Setoguchi, Dion Phaneuf, Donald Brashear, Doug Weight, Douglas Murray, Eric Fehr, flames, Flyers, IAN LAPERRIERE, Iginla, Jarome, Jim Dowd, Joe Pavelski, Joe Sakic, Joe Thornton, Jonathan Cheechoo, Jordan, Keith Carney, Koivu, Kovalev, Laich, Langkow, Leopold, Match, Mike Green, Mike Knuble, mike modano, Mike Ribeiro, Mike Richards, Mikko, Milan, Minnesota, Montreal, Morrisonn, Morrow, Patrice Brisebois, Patrick Marleau, penalty, period, Philadelphia, playoff, power, Ruslan, ryan getzlaf, Ryan Smyth, Ryane, Salei, Sami Kapanen, San Jose, Scott Hartnell, Scottie Upshall, Selanne, Series, Sharks, Stars, Teemu, today, Todd Bertuzzi, Todd Marchant, Travis Moen, Vaclav Prospal, Washington, Wojtek, Wolski

Contenders Not Pretenders

After 3 disappointing first round playoff exits, the Stars have finally found their game.

For the first time in two years, the Dallas Stars won a game in which Marty Turco did not shut out the opposition.  In doing so they served notice to the league that they are indisputable contenders, not pretenders.
- Bleacher Report

Contenders, not pretenders.  That’s exactly the message the Dallas Stars are sending to the rest of the league right now.

The Stars are leading the Anaheim Ducks 2-0 in their first round series.  2 straight wins against the Ducks is impressive, no doubt.  What makes this extra special is the Stars did it on the road, without their top playmaking defenseman Sergei Zubov, who is out due to Hernia surgery.

The key to Dallas success so far has been team-play.  The entire team has played well, and the chemistry issues that plagued the team going down the last stretch toward the playoffs appears to be a thing of the past.  Mike Ribeiro and Brenden Morrow are dominating plays.  Mike Modano is showing he still has what it takes to be a top player in this league and newcomer Brad Richards is shining whenever his skates touch.  Richards appears to have gelled with young winger Loui Eriksson, who has a goal in each of the 2 games played in this series.  Jere Lehtinen and Steve Ott have also played a role in the scoring.

The Ducks travel to the American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX this Tuesday for game 3.

Image source: Yahoo Images 

Tags: American, Anaheim, Bleacher, Brad Richards, Brenden, Center, chemistry, Contenders, Dallas, defenseman, doubt, Eriksson, Game, goal, Hernia, hockey, image, Images, league, Lehtinen, Loui, marty turco, message, Mike Ribeiro, Morrow, notice, opposition, past, player, playoff, Pretenders, report, rest, road, role, Round, Sergei Zubov, Series, source, special, Stars, Steve Ott, stretch, surgery, Team, time, Tuesday, yahoo

Playoff Match Results - 9 April 2008

Please click the link below to view the results from the following games played today:

Detroit Red Wings Vs Nashville Predators (G1)
Montreal Canadiens Vs Boston Bruins (G1)
San Jose Sharks Vs Calgary Flames (G2)
Anaheim Ducks Vs Dallas Stars (G1)

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Tags: Anaheim, Andrei Kostitsyn, Andrew Ference, April, Boston, Brad Richards, Brenden, Bruins, Bryan Smolinski, Calgary, canadiens, click, Craig Rivet, Dallas, Detroit, Draper, Eriksson, flames, Greg Zanon, Henrik Zetterberg, Hudler, Jere, Joe Pavelski, Johan Franzen, Kris, Lehtinen, link, Loui, marc, Marc-Edouard, Mark Streit, Match, Maxim Lapierre, Michalek, Mike Komisarek, Mike Ribeiro, Milan, Montreal, Morrow, nashville, Nicklas Lidstrom, Niklas Kronwall, Patrice Brisebois, Patrick Marleau, pavel datsyuk, period, Phil Kessel, play, playoff, power, predators, Red, Robidas, San Jose, Sergei Kostitsyn, Series, Shane Hnidy, Sharks, Shea, Stars, Steve Ott, today, Tom Kostopoulos, Tomas Plekanec, Tootoo, Torrey Mitchell, Vlasic, Weber, Wings

Ribeiro Shines as Stars Losing Streak Ends

Losing 8 of the last 9 games is never a good thing, especially in the month of March.  That’s exactly the position the Dallas Stars were in going into todays battle with division rivals, the Los Angeles Kings. Fresh in the minds of the Stars was the devastating and embarrassing 4-2 loss to the Kings last week.  In that game, the Stars led 2-1 right up to the last minutes, and then went on to give up 3 quick goals. Also fresh in their minds was the knowledge that with just 5 games left in the season, more losses could easily mean not making the playoffs.

After a few minutes and a goal by Dallman to put the Kings up 1-0 it looked as those this game could end up like other recent ones.  That, fortunately for the Stars was not the case, and this was the closest the Kings ever got to competing with the Stars.  At the 13th minute point, Stars defenseman Stephan Robidas tied the game, taking the 1-1 score to the first break.

During the second and third periods the Stars shone bright.  The second period saw 4 goals by the Stars, including goals by Stu Barnes, Brenden Morrow and a duo by Loui Eriksson.  The third perid blasted away with Jere Lehtinen, and then Niklas Hagman net a goal each.  Kings forward Michael Cammalleri slipped one past Turco in the closing minutes, but the damage was already done.

“This is something to build on, and we need more of the same. We’re in a lockdown mode,” goaltender Marty Turco said. “The beauty of the whole game was not the score, but how the game went down—just the relentlessness of every period and every facet of the game. It’s great to see. But that’s what we expect, really. Today was a great example of what we need to do every shift from now on.”
- Yahoo! Sports

The Stars ended the game with a very convincing 7-2 victory, with 3 points games from Mike Ribeiro (3A) and Stephan Robidas (1G 2A) and go into tomorrows game against division rivals the Anaheim Ducks brimming with confidence.

* Photo courtesy of Dallas Stars 

Tags: Anaheim, beauty, break, Brenden, Cammalleri, case, closing, confidence, Courtesy, Dallas, Dallman, defenseman, Division, duo, Eriksson, example, facet, Fresh, Game, goal, goaltender, Hagman, Jere, knowledge, Lehtinen, lockdown, Losing, loss, Loui, March, Michael, Mike Ribeiro, minute, mode, month, Morrow, Niklas, perid, period, Photo, point, position, score, season, shift, shone, something, Stars, Stephan Robidas, Stu Barnes, today, victory, week, yahoo

Dallas Stars in a Serious Slump

Normally a team others look up for strong defensive play, a never say die attitude and gritty, hard hitting forechecking, the Dallas Stars of late have not fit the bill.  In fact over recent games the Stars, who have gone 3-7-0 in their last 10 games are in a major slump, and have chosen the worse possible time to do it.

All teams go through slumps though, and in the NHL these days a slump means very little in the big scheme of things.  The Detroit Red Wings, who lead the entire league in points went through a slump very similar to the one the Stars are in, and went on to a hot streak soon after.  The San Jose Sharks had a slump before going on their current hot streak.

For the Stars then, it’s surely only a matter of time before the team gains back its confidence and gets back on track.   Stars Captain Brenden Morrow spoke of confidence recently…

“That’s probably one way to describe it,” Stars captain Brenden Morrow said. “I think confidence is an attitude you have. We’ve had it at times, but right now we don’t, and it’s going to take more than just one game to get it back. It’s going to take a handful of games where you get ugly, where you dig in, and where you earn your bounces. That’s the way we have to look at this, we have to look at it that we have a lot of work to do.”
- Mike Heika, Dallas Morning News

The Stars face the San Jose Sharks later this week, and hope to break their slump in California.  Word is BJ Crombeen has been called up from the minors, so maybe look to see a cold-streak winger be a healthy scratch during the upcoming games.

Tags: A., back, break, Brenden, call, cap, captain, check, checking, com, confidence, Dallas, dallas stars, Detroit, detroit red wings, fact, Game, games, hockey, lead, league, look, Matt, May, Mike, NHL, Other, point, recent games, Red, right, row, San Jose, san jose sharks, Sharks, slump, Star, Stars, streak, Team, teams, th, THIS, Tim, time, track, way, Wee, week, win, winger, Wings, word

Red Wings Grab 1st Playoff Spot

Pavel Datsyuk and the red hot Detroit Red Wings clinched the first playoff spot today by defeating Marty Turco and the Dallas Stars at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. The win gives the Red Wings 100 points on the season, and gives them the win in their Division, and a guaranteed playoff spot.

The Dallas Stars looked good early on, pushing the lead out to 3-1 at one stage with goals from Jere Lehtinen and Brenden Morrow.  Datsyuk scored with just under 4 minutes left in the 2nd period taking the Red Wings to the 2nd intermission only 1 goal down and boosted with confidence.

Datsyuk took just 34 seconds into the third period to score again bringing the score to 3-3.  Mikael Samuelsson deflated the Stars hopes just 25 seconds later when he also found the back of the net.  The Stars never recovered, and in the closing minutes Valtteri Filppula scored an empty netter to seal the victory.

“The first goal was a bad goal and the second, we didn’t check very well,” Stars coach Dave Tippett said. “Once you give up two quick goals to start a period, it’s hard to get the momentum back.”
- Yahoo! Sports

The challenge for the Detroit Red Wings now will be to maintain momentum through the final10 or so games of the season.

Tags: back, Brenden, Challenge, check, closing, coach, confidence, Dallas, Dave Tippett, Detroit, didn, Division, Filppula, goal, Grab, hockey, intermission, Jere, Joe Louis Arena, lead, Lehtinen, marty turco, Mikael Samuelsson, momentum, Morrow, Net, netter, pavel datsyuk, period, playoff, Red, score, season, spot, stage, Stars, today, Valtteri, victory, win, Wings, yahoo