NHL Update: Dallas Stars 2-1 beat Carolina Hurricanes in shootout
The Dallas Stars skated to a 2-1 triumph over the visiting Carolina Hurricanes in a shootout at American Airlines Centre on Friday night. The win snapped a two-game winless streak and improved Dallas to 17-9-2 on the season.
Brad Richards and Andrew Raycroft came up big for the Dallas Stars in the shootout. Richards scored in the second round of the shootout and net minder Andrew Raycroft denied all three Carolina shooters to help Dallas squeeze out fourth consecutive home win.
Stars are 9-0-1 in their last 10 games in Dallas.
Stars' goalie Andrew Raycroft, starting his second straight game in place of Kari Lehtonen, stopped 22 of the 23 shots he faced, and improved to 4-2 with a 1.93 GAA this season.
“Andrew Raycroft was just outstanding,” Stars' coach Marc Crawford said. “What can you say about Brad Richards? He just finds a way to score and it’s such an important element in today’s NHL, that you’ve got the shootout. Tonight, we only needed the one
goal, so that’s great when you’ve got your goaltender playing as well as Andrew Raycroft played for us. It’s a huge two points.”
Cam Ward stopped 28 of 29 shots, and fell to 11-9-3. He stood on his head in overtime, but it wasn't enough to prevent the Carolina from losing for the fourth time in five games. The Carolina franchise is winless in its last 10 visits to Dallas.
"The thing about the shootout is it's a flip of a coin," Ward said. "It can go good, it can go bad. It's been a while since we won a shootout, but we got a point."
Dallas struck first, midway through the first period. James Neal took a pass from Brad Richards deep in the Carolina zone, patiently waited for a second with the puck and roofed it over Hurricanes' net minder Cam Ward for a 1-0 lead. It was Neal's 12th goal
of the year which extended his points' streak to six games for Pacific Division-leading Dallas (17-9-2).
Carolina converted it into a 1-1 game when Jiri Tlusty whipped the puck past Raycroft from the slot at 9:03 of the second period.
Neither team mounted much of a threat in the third period. Raycroft made five saves in the third period while Ward stopped seven, and both goalies were sternly tested in overtime.
Stars applied most of the early pressure, deluging goaltender Ward with dangerous chances. With less than four minutes to play, Ward stopped a Mike Ribeiro shot.
Moments later, Neal tried a wraparound that also stopped by the Ward, and the goaltender had to quickly adjust to block Richards' rebound blast.
With under a minute remaining in overtime, Raycroft stuffed Joe Corvo to send the game to the shootout.
"He played great," Stars' defenseman Stephane Robidas said of Raycroft. "He has been really good every time he stepped in net. I think we all feel really confident. He is calm, and he is playing the puck very well."
Raycroft stopped all three shots he faced, while Richards faked out Ward and was able to get it over Ward's right pad for the game-winner.
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