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Turco holds off Flames

Dec 3, 2008 - 6:21 AM CALGARY, Alberta (Ticker) -- Marty Turco and the Dallas Stars refused to allow Sean Avery's latest antics to distract them.

Turco made 36 saves and rookie Fabian Brunnstrom snapped a tie less than eight minutes into the second period as the Stars skated to a 3-1 victory Tuesday over the red-hot Calgary Flames.

Toby Petersen and Loui Eriksson also scored and defenseman Stephane Robidas notched a pair of assists for the Stars, who have won three of their last four.

Turco, who had won just two of his previous six games, was at his best in the third period, when he stopped all 15 shots he faced.

"The past couple weeks, he's just played better," Dallas coach Dave Tippett said. "I think that showed in his play tonight. He's a guy who cares deeply about his team. I think for the longest time, there was some overtry in his game - he was overtrying. Now, he's doing what he does best - playing a strong game and giving our team a chance to win.

"He's one of our leaders, and the best thing for him to do is to play well. That's where it starts. That's what he did tonight. It gave us a chance to win, and we did."

Turco's performance also drew praise from his opponents.

"He played well," Calgary's Craig Conroy said. "Everyone's talking about him struggling, but I don't think he was struggling tonight."

David Moss netted the lone goal for the Flames, who had won three in a row and five of six.

"I think we did have the opportunities," Calgary coach Mike Keenan said. "We didn't have the next level of being sharp in terms of our execution. We missed many wide-open nets. Marty had obviously a solid game, stopping 36 shots, but we missed 12 opportunities. We just didn't have that edge."

Earlier in the day, Avery earned an indefinite suspension from the NHL for inappropriate comments he made toward ex-girlfriend - and Calgary native - Elisha Cuthbert, an actress who currently is dating Flames defenseman Dion Phaneuf. Tippett and Dallas owner Tom Hicks were disgusted by Avery's remarks, but the rest of the Stars did not let the agitator's deplorable act affect their play.

"We weren't oblivious to what happened today," Turco said. "We talked about it before the game. It's something you have to talk about. We can't just bury a teammate. But from that, you really have to appreciate the effort from this club after all that's gone on, never mind today's unfortunate incident.

"We're not going to pretend like we dominated the game, but that's the way we need to play. But I was proud of these guys, the way they rallied around each other despite what happened."

Entering just 4-7-2 in its previous 13 games, Dallas grabbed a 1-0 lead less than 6 1/2 minutes into the contest. After goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff made a right pad save on Robidas' shot from the right faceoff circle, Petersen fired the rebound into a wide-open net from the slot at 6:14 for his second goal of the season - both of which have come in his last two games.

"We got the puck to the point and Rober (Robidas) made a good shot," Petersen said. "I was fortunate it came to me, and I had an open net."

Calgary pulled even early in the second period on Moss' third goal in four contests. Defenseman Adrian Aucoin's shot from the right faceoff dot was stopped by Turco, but Moss was on the doorstep to knock in the rebound at 1:44 for his sixth tally of the campaign.

Brunnstrom put the Stars ahead for good at 7:53, gathering his own rebound and using one hand to slide the puck around Kiprusoff. It was the seventh goal of the season for Brunnstrom, ending the 23-year-old Swede's nine-game drought.

"(Defenseman Trevor) Daley had a great pass and I tried to catch up, get a good shot off and reach for the rebound," Brunnstrom said.

Eriksson sealed the win when he deposited the puck into an empty net with 15 seconds remaining in the third for his team-leading 12th tally of the campaign and third in four games.

Making his 10th consecutive start, Kiprusoff stopped 20 shots in losing for just the second time in seven outings.

"(Turco) played a good game, and so did Miikka," Flames captain Jarome Iginla said. "But (the Stars) played hard and we weren't good enough."