Lehtonen, Eriksson power Stars to a 3-2 win over the Flames

Final SO

Dallas 3 – Calgary 2

The Stars continued to move up the standings with a fantastic 3-2 shootout win over the Calgary Flames last night. For much of the game, Dallas didn’t look so great, but the Stars managed to hang on and then win the game in a shootout. Dallas would have liked if this game didn’t go into a three point situation but the Stars didn’t compound the situation by losing the game.

Loui Eriksson continues to be the best player on the team as he had another great performance. He had one of the goals of the season with his undressing of Alex Tanguay and subsequent backhand by Miikka Kiprusoff. He also showed up on the defensive end of the ice with two takeaways and a number of crucial plays where he just got into the way of players.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=T1lYdpxQduA

The Stars started very slow in this game as Calgary took control of the run of play for much of the first period. The Flames outshot the Stars 13-9 in the first, had a lot of good scoring chances and forced turnover after turnover from the Stars. Kari Lehtonen was up to the task though and kept it scoreless going into the first intermission.

The Flames got on the board first after a weird sequence of events. Stephane Robidas had his stick broken as the puck went along the boards behind Lehtonen. An attempted clearance hit the ref and bounced right to David Moss, who passed it to Curtis Glencross who had a point blank goal. Glencross was being covered by Robidas, who had no stick and no real way to defend Glencross.

Dallas answered back with the Eriksson wonder goal and then Michael Ryder scored on some tic-tac-toe passing on the Stars first power play of the game. Mike Ribeiro backhanded a pass from the boards on Kiprusoff’s right side over to Eriksson. Loui shot a pass through two defenders to a streaking Ryder who had his first tip-in chance stopped, but he got the rebound and lifted it over a sprawled Kiprusoff.

The Flames would tie the game in the third before the Stars would find a way to win it in the shootout. The win put the Stars into seventh place, two points ahead of the San Jose Sharks and tied with the Phoenix Coyotes for the division lead. They end their Western Canadian road trip against the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday night.

Kari Lehtonen was great in this game as he stopped 36 of 38 shots and redeemed himself in the shootout after his poor showing in the Penguins game. The two points were crucial for the Stars as they try to break a three year streak of no playoffs. Kipper wasn’t bad himself as he stopped 38 of 40, but his offense couldn’t quite bail him out in this game.

more after the jump

Game Notes:

In a very bizarre situation, Stephane Robidas broke five sticks in this game. It cost him on the defensive end once and three more times while he was attempting to make a shot.

Ryder has a goal in four straight games and at least a point in his last five. He’s recorded a point in 12 of his last 13 games.

Eriksson has multiple points in four of his last six games.

Dallas has gotten at least a point in seven straight games.

Flames forward Curtis Glencross has a goal in four straight games. Calgary missed his goal-scoring touch immensely while he was injured throughout January.

Dallas is 8-0-1 this year against Canadian teams.

I never like to be this guy, but man were the officials bad yesterday. Dallas could have had 7 or 8 power plays but the refs swallowed their whistles most of the times when the Flames committed a penalty yesterday. One of the calls had to be made, too many men on the ice. They totally ignored blatant fouls and also a delay of game call when a Flames defender batted the puck over the glass while he was in his own zone. Dallas only ended up with three power play chances.

Dallas is 10 of 10 on the penalty kill in the last four games.

Dallas had a power play chance in overtime, but it didn’t look very good. The Stars were determined to shoot from outside instead of setting up guys in front of the net. There wasn’t a whole lot of movement and the majority of the two minutes was spent passing the puck around the perimeter.

Weird note. Whoever made the decision on the three stars chose Iginla as the 1st stars, Eriksson as number two and Tim Jackman (really!!?) as the third. Kari and Miikka weren’t awarded stars in this one. Jackman of course, had no goals or assists and was most memorable because he did absolutely nothing.

Game Stats and Scoring Summary: