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ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- Martin Gerber may be making a case for more playing time. Making consecutive starts for the second time in his career, Gerber turned aside 26 shots as the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim skated to a 1-1 tie with the first-place Dallas Stars. Gerber has made just seven starts as Jean-Sebastien Giguere's backup, including the last two due to Giguere's neck injury. Gerber was the Ducks' eighth-round pick in the 2001 draft and recorded two wins for Switzerland in the 2002 Winter Olympics before he made his first NHL appearance at Dallas on October 11. "I'm pretty happy with my play," Gerber said. "I'm playing well and I'm satisfied that I'm playing well. It's just too bad, we've only gotten one point out of the two games. Sometimes that happens, sometimes the games go against you." "He's a quality goaltender, but the thing is when Gerbs isn't playing he starts to question himself and starts getting down on himself, which I guess in some ways is natural," Ducks coach Mike Babcock said. "But he's got to understand that it's his job to battle and when he gets his chance, he goes in and battles. It doesn't make you a bad goalie or a bad person because you haven't played in while. You just have to battle hard." Giguere's injury is not serious and he is expected back Wednesday. But Gerber has stopped 51 of 53 shots after allowing four goals in relief of Giguere in a 7-3 loss at Vancouver on December 21. On Sunday, Gerber faced 14 shots in the first period, four in the second, eight in third and just one in overtime. The only goal he allowed was one he didn't see as Pierre Turgeon deflected Scott Young's shot 7:04 into the second period for his 10th goal. As Gerber failed to clear the puck from the corner and slowly returned to the crease. Turgeon skated past Ducks defenseman Kurt Sauer and stationed himself down low before getting in the deflection. Gerber preserved the deadlock with 16 seconds left in regulation when he made a tough save on Young's breakaway attempt. Young took a pass from defenseman Derian Hatcher at the blue line, skated in and took a wrist shot that Gerber stopped with his stick. "He's been rock solid and steady since the start of training camp," Ducks center Steve Rucchin said. "When he gets in the net, we have confidence in him. He's played well in almost every game he has been in. He's given up two goals in two games and it's too bad we couldn't get him two wins." While Gerber was on his game, so was Dallas' Marty Turco, who made 32 saves. Turco has allowed one goal in each of his last three starts and six of his last 10. Petr Sykora's 13th tally accounted for the offense for the Ducks, who are 6-1-4 in their last 11 home games. Sykora received a nifty pass from Paul Kariya and as he crossed the blue line and lifted a long slap shot off Turco's left pad. Turco thwarted numerous chances by the Ducks, making 26 saves over the final 45 minutes. Turco's best stop came with 63 seconds left in the extra session, when he robbed Rucchin's point-blank shot from the slot. The Ducks failed to convert six power-play chances and took just one shot on a four-minute man advantage in the third period. Anaheim has not scored on the power play in its last 17 chances and is winless in its last six games (0-5-1). The Stars played in their league-leading 10th tie, extended their unbeaten streak to six games (4-0-2-0) and lead Anaheim by 15 points in the Pacific Division. "We came into this game looking for a win, but both goalies played pretty good tonight," Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "But five out of six points on the road is pretty good. On our first couple of power plays, we had a few real good chances, but their goalie came up big. It was an exciting game with lots of chances." "It's a pretty good road trip and you've got to be happy with five out of six points," Turco added. Tonight we had our chances, but Gerber played well and we just got the one point. We just ran into a wall." |
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