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ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- Marty Turco made 18 of his 31 saves in the third period en route to his third shutout of the season, helping carry the red-hot Dallas Stars to a 4-0 victory over the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. Turco moved into a tie with Chicago's Jocelyn Thibault for the most shutouts this season and notched the eighth of his career. "It was a great game by our guys and especially our defense," he said. "It's a matter of being patient, and tonight the patience paid off for us. "We're only a quarter of the way through the season. We've put in a lot of work, but for me it's been a lot of fun so far." Defenseman Philippe Boucher opened the scoring in the first period and Ulf Dahlen doubled the advantage with three minutes to go in the second as the Stars extended their unbeaten steak to six games (5-0-1). Mike Modano helped set up Dahlen's goal and increased his career totals against the Ducks to 43 assists and 61 points - the most by any player against Anaheim. Matt Cullen had a goal disallowed by a quick whistle with 4:33 to play as the Ducks' streak of recording at least a point in eight straight games (5-0-0-3) was snapped. "They (Stars) may have played well, but we really didn't do much," Cullen said. "We didn't put any pressure on them to stop them tonight. They're a good team, but we really didn't make them work tonight." The Stars took the first meeting of the season against the Ducks on October 11, when Turco turned away 24 shots and Bill Guerin scored twice in a 4-2 home win. Guerin also picked up an assist on Dahlen's goal, giving him 21 points through his first 22 games with Dallas. The Stars are 11-0-3-0 when he collects a point. With a win over its Pacific Division foe, Dallas improved to 7-1-2 over the last 10 games and became the first team in the NHL to reach 30 points. "With us being a step maybe slower than we usually are and you add in them being a step quicker than most teams, and that's it," Ducks coach Mike Babcock said. "I'm not trying to pretend for one second that we earned a better fate - that's not what I'm saying. The best team tonight won the game." Boucher's slap shot from the right point 7:36 into the contest made it 1-0. Turco maintained the Stars' advantage, stoning Ducks captain Paul Kariya from point-blank range on the power play. "We had a couple of bumpy spots early but Turk (Turco) bailed us out. After that we really got it together," Stars coach Dave Tippett said. Dahlen's power-play effort seemed to deflate the Ducks. Guerin's one-timer off Modano's cross-ice pass was stopped by goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere. But Dahlen tapped home his ninth goal. "You look for the opportunity to take over the game. The power play is a good time to do that," Tippett said. "The guys made a great play to get that goal." The Stars added two more during an 84-second span in the third. Scott Young found the net 5:33 into the period before a fortuitous rebound found defenseman Derian Hatcher, who bounced the puck off Giguere's back and into the net. "It's always nice to get one to go in for you," said Hatcher, the Stars' captain who recorded his 65th NHL goal in his 767th career game. "Turk made the saves he had to make and kept us in the game when we needed it. All divisional games are worth four points, so they are important." |
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