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Bundall, Qld - The Bartercard Gold Coast Blue Tongues played the Sydney (Penrith) Bears tonight in a regular season league fixture of the Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL). The Bears, who have dominated the league so far this season had an 11-1 record going into this game, and were playing a Blue Tongues team who had played their season so far on the road, going 5-2. These 2 teams are the extreme oppsosites on the AIHL ladder, with the bears holding the #1 spot and the Blue Tongues coming dead last.
Import Gaetan Royer (from Quebec Radio X) and locals Dave Upton and Ben Spillane helped drive the Blue Tongues to an almost white-wash of the Bears, with the Tongues winning 9-1. Royer netted 4 goals on the evening with Spillane netting 2.
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP)—Joe Pavelski collapsed like a kid on rented skates, nudging the puck straight to Brad Richards as he fell. Richards, who has a few big playoff goals in his past, turned that turnover into the Dallas Stars’ tying score before the Sharks even knew they were doomed.
- GREG BEACHAM, AP Sports Writer
That quote by Greg Beacham pretty much sums up todays game between the Dallas Stars and San Jose Sharks.
The Sharks did come out swinging, and took the early lead off a Joe Pavelski goal. Mike Ribeiro leveled the score however not long after, setting the scene for a fast paced end to end hockey match.
The 2nd period saw Milan Michalek put the Sharks ahead once again, a lead they held going into the third period.
It was the 3rd however where the Sharks collapsed, the the Stars shone bright! Just 30 seconds into the match Joe Pavelski lost an edge while attempting to clear the puck from his zone. In his attempt to control the puck while falling, he handed it right to Brad Richards, who put it past Nabokov before anybody knew what had happened.
Like a puncture wound in a well used tire, the Sharks momentum deflated in an instant, and the Stars grabbed the advantage. Mike Modano put the Stars ahead 3 minutes later on the Power Play, and Niklas Hagman put up the insurance goal in the 13th minute of the period. A goalie change by San Jose was not enough, and Hagman picked up his 2nd of the night, an empty net goal to finish off the game.
“We’ve had amazing third periods so far in the playoffs,” said Modano, who has six goals in six games in San Jose this season. “It was a big trip for us. Now it’s up to us to respond to this at home. We know this is far from over, but at the same time, we had a great two days here. Every shift, every night, we’ve looked hungry.”
- Yahoo! Sports
Games 3 and 4 will be back to back games, held in Dallas this Tuesday and Wednesday.
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 Full Story →
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.
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)
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.
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.
That quote by Greg Beacham pretty much sums up todays game between the Dallas Stars and San Jose Sharks.
Like a puncture wound in a well used tire, the Sharks momentum deflated in an instant, and the Stars grabbed the advantage. Mike Modano put the Stars ahead 3 minutes later on the Power Play, and Niklas Hagman put up the insurance goal in the 13th minute of the period. A goalie change by San Jose was not enough, and Hagman picked up his 2nd of the night, an empty net goal to finish off the game.
After 3 disappointing first round playoff exits, the Stars have finally found their game.
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.
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.
