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Zubov, Jokinen give Stars thrilling shootout win

Jan 5, 2007 - 7:43 AM EDMONTON, Alberta (Ticker) -- Defenseman Sergei Zubov and Jussi Jokinen atoned for Patrik Stefan's monumental gaffe.

Zubov and Jokinen scored shootout goals and Marty Turco denied both shooters he faced as the Dallas Stars overcame Stefan's miscue late in the third period to post a 6-5 victory over the Edmonton Oilers.

After ending a four-game skid on Tuesday, the Oilers appeared on their way to a second straight win thanks to Ryan Smyth, who factored in on three of four tallies en route to a 4-1 lead. However, the Stars rallied for four straight goals to move ahead and were just a foot away from sealing the win late in the third.

With Edmonton goaltender Dwayne Roloson pulled for an extra attacker, Stefan cruised in toward an empty net for what would have been the clinching goal. But the former first overall pick failed to bury a backhander, coughing up the puck in the crease.

"I've never seen anything like that," Dallas' Mike Ribeiro said. "It was just a strange play at the end, they come back and score. I'm sure we're going to see that (highlight) for the next few days now. It's never fun for the guy that it happened to, especially because they came back and scored."

"It makes for good poking fun, to say the least," Turco added. "That's just the fluke stuff, but it's a good lesson for everybody at this level to just put that thing on net!"

Even the Oilers were caught off-guard by Stefan's miscue.

"It was probably the weirdest play I have ever seen in my life," Oilers defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron said. "I thought, 'That's it, it's over,' and then I don't know what happened."

"We were bestowed upon a miracle at the end," Edmonton coach Craig MacTavish said. "I have never seen anything like it. It's one of those moments in hockey that you'll remember forever. ... When something like that happens, you should get a trophy. It turned a disaster into a debacle."

Counterpart Dave Tippett shared MacTavish's sentiments.

"I can say that I've been in pro hockey for almost 25 years now and I've never seen that, and I hope I never see it again," Tippett said. "That is just inexcusable. ... I guarantee that won't happen to Stef again. You have to make sure of it. It's a bad break, but it's still something that shouldn't happen."

Jarret Stoll tracked down the loose puck in the corner and fired it up ice. With time ticking down, Smyth gained control along the right wing boards and slid a backhand pass to Ales Hemsky, who came down the slot alone and deked Turco before slipping in a backhander with two seconds remaining, tying the game at 5-5.

"I kind of felt bad for (Stefan) for missing it," Stoll admitted. "I couldn't believe the puck was still sitting there for me, and I didn't know how much time was left. I just tried to fire it up and Hemmer with a great goal again."

Despite making one of the biggest blunders of modern hockey, Stefan was able to joke about it thanks to his teammates' heroics in the shootout.

"We came out with the two points, so it's easy to laugh about it right now," he said. "It's not like I missed the net. I saw it was bad ice and I had so much time, so I just tried to carry it all the way to the net. Unfortunately, as soon as I put it on my backhand, it jumped over my stick. Not much I can do about that."

Following a scoreless overtime, Dallas continued to demonstrate its dominance in shootouts. On the first attempt of the bonus format, Zubov deked Roloson before putting a backhander between his pads to give the Stars the advantage.

Turco denied Hemsky on Edmonton's opening chance, poke-checking away the puck before a shot could be taken. Jokinen followed with his signature move, deking and sliding the puck around the netminder with one hand for a 2-0 edge.

"I had a good year last year in shootouts, and this year seems to go the same way," said Jokinen, who is 4-for-5 this season after going 10-for-13 in 2005-06. "I feel confident when I go there. I look what kind of goalie is there and then make my decision. It's been going good so far."

Petr Sykora was unable to convert against Turco on the Oilers' next shot, sealing the win for the Stars, who improved to 16-2 in shootouts since it was introduced last season.

Turco had entered the game at the start of the third period in relief of rookie Mike Smith, who surrendered four goals on just 17 shots and took a shot off his mask late in the second.

"It wasn't something that was planned," Turco said. "Unfortunately, that shot that rang off of Mike's head was more than just a dented cage."

"(Turco) is a great athlete and those are things that you get thrown in those situations and you're not thinking, you're just playing, and the best in you comes out, and that's what happened with him tonight," Tippett said.

Defenseman Philippe Boucher had a goal and an assist and Zubov and Ribeiro each set up a pair of tallies for Dallas, which had lost three of five.

Smyth registered a goal and three assists for the Oilers, who have dropped seven of nine.

Just 49 seconds into the game, Smyth gave Edmonton the lead by backhanding a rebound past Smith for his 21st goal. The tally extended Smyth's goal-scoring streak to three games and gave him five in as many contests since returning from a fractured right thumb.

Shawn Horcoff made it 2-0 at 4:29 of the first and, just 67 seconds after Stefan put a wrist shot from the left faceoff dot inside the right goalpost just over three minutes into the second to halve the deficit, Petr Nedved buried the rebound of Sykora's one-timer to restore the Oilers' two-goal bulge.

"They got the lead early and I still felt like we were playing a pretty good game," Tippett said. "It just seemed like every chance they were getting, they were capitalizing on."

The goal was Nedved's first in as many games for the Oilers after being claimed off waivers from Philadelphia on Tuesday. The second overall pick by Vancouver in 1990, Nedved also played for Edmonton in 2003-04.

"I think that I still need to improve my game, and it's going to get better and better as far as conditioning," said Nedved, who had just one goal and six assists in 21 games with the Flyers. "It's going to take a couple of games, but I should be feeling normal by then. ... It's nice to have the monkey off my back by coming in and scoring the goal. Hopefully, many more coming."

Joffrey Lupul gave Edmonton a 4-1 advantage midway through the session before Mathias Tjarnqvist began Dallas' comeback with 4:35 remaining. Jere Lehtinen made it a one-goal game at 3:19 of the third with his 200th career goal during a 5-on-3 power play and Boucher forged a tie 33 seconds later with another man-advantage tally.

"That's a game you should close out, and we didn't do it," Stoll said. "We were lucky to get the point, for sure. We have to close those games out. We have to play a simple, smart third period, and we played a stupid one."

Niklas Hagman put the Stars ahead for the first time, 5-4, when he got behind the defense and beat Roloson from alone in front at 7:40.