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Smith, Morrow help Stars to big road win

Nov 25, 2007 - 9:48 PM By Larry Fleisher PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

NEW YORK (Ticker) - The Dallas Stars had few shots on goal but the ones they had helped them open their longest road trip of the season with an extremely positive result.

Brenden Morrow scored 4:04 into the third period and Mike Smith made 39 saves as the Stars opened a six-game road trip with a 3-2 victory over the New York Rangers on Sunday.

Jussi Jokinen and Loui Eriksson had the other goals for the Stars, who had not made an appearance at Madison Square Garden in over four years.

"We didn't carry much of the play at all tonight," Morrow said. "We didn't sustain any pressure and they had it in our end and Smitty was a wall for us and he gave us a chance to win. We talked about it after two periods and it's a pretty good situation considering how bad were playing."

Jaromir Jagr and Brendan Shanahan scored for the Rangers, who have dropped three of four (1-2-1) following a 10-1-0 surge.

Dallas won its fifth in a row and has gained a point its last six (5-0-1) since general manager Doug Armstrong was fired and replaced by former Stanley Cup hero Brett Hull on November 13.

In each of the previous five, the Stars averaged 25.8 shots per game, raising their total to 563, which entering Sunday was the fifth-worst total in the league.

The Stars had one of their worst games of the season in terms of shots as they had six in the first, none in the first 10-plus minutes of the second and nine after 40 minutes. They were able to stay in it as Jokinen scored on a breakaway in the final minute of the first and Eriksson netted a power-play goal with 9:06 left in the second.

"We're looking for people to make a couple of plays to make a difference and that's one of those plays," Dallas coach Dave Tippett said. "That's just the way it goes. Once we had a couple of opportunities we cashed in. I think we had two scoring opportunities in the first two periods and were 2-for-2. That's kind of the way our team is a little bit, we hang around games but we're going to have to be much better on this trip."

"That's the way the game goes sometimes," Smith said. "It seemed like the ice was tilted for a lot of the game but we found a way to win and that's what you got to do on the road."

Smith, who is 4-0-0 in his last four starts, gave the Stars a chance for the win by stopping 17 shots in the second. He made a point-blank save on Shanahan at 15:24, stopped Sean Avery and Chris Drury on breakaways minutes later and made another save on Shanahan with less than 5 1/2 minutes left before capping the period with a pad save on rookie defenseman Marc Staal with nine seconds left during a power play.

"That's our job," Smith said. "Marty and (my) job is to bail the guys out when they're not doing so great or not having a good period or two but the win is most important tonight. It's a big start to the road trip."

"We looked like we stuck in the mud there for a little bit," Tippett said. "But give our guys credit, they kept hanging around. Smitty (Smith) kept making great saves and as the game went on, I thought the third period was our best by far."

Smith was eventually rewarded for his effort when Morrow converted centering feed through the crease from Mike Ribiero into a vacated net. The right side of New York's net was left vacated after Ribiero breezed past Rangers defenseman Dan Girardi and had goaltender Henrik Lundqvist committed to stopping him before passing to Morrow.

"I was Johnny on the spot," Morrow said. "It was a great play by Ribs (Ribiero)."

The goal extended Morrow's points streak to a career-high eight games.

After Morrow's goal, Smith made point saves on Jagr and Marc Staal and had help from Sergei Zubov, who broke up an odd-man rush between Martin Straka and rookie Brandon Dubinsky with just over 7 1/2 minutes remaining. Smith denied Jagr again with just under six minutes remaining moments after a goalmouth scramble had briefly forced him out of position.

Jagr opened the scoring 6:20 into the opening period with his first goal in six games, ending his longest drought of the season. He stripped Dallas defenseman Phillipe Boucher just inside the blue line, exchanged passes with Dubinsky before his pass intended for Straka went by Smith.

Dallas tied it after defenseman Stephane Robidas forced a turnover by Scott Gomez in the slot and fed a streaking Jokinen, who scored his eighth goal of the season.

The Rangers regained the lead early in the second when Gomez atoned for his turnover by winning a battle along the boards behind the Dallas net with Zubov, a former Ranger. He fed Sean Avery, whose backhanded pass went off Eriksson's skate and caromed to Shanahan's stick.

Dallas tied it again when Eriksson glided past Girardi after getting a long pass from Zubov and scored on a partial breakaway.

New York produced its second-highest shot total of the season as it totaled over 40 for the fourth time. The Rangers have also generated at least 30 in 14 games but have had 15 contests in which they have been held to two goals or less.