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Auld wins in season debut, Stars beat Flames 5-2

Oct 10, 2009 - 5:14 AM CALGARY, Alberta(AP) -- Alex Auld had a lot of fun in his Dallas Stars debut - at the expense of the Calgary Flames.

Auld made 21 saves to help the Stars beat the Flames 5-2 on Friday for their first victory of the season. Mike Ribeiro, Brian Sutherby, Tom Wandell, Loui Eriksson and Brad Richards scored for Dallas, coming off season-opening shootout losses to Nashville and Edmonton with Marty Turco in goal.

"I just wanted to make a good impression and the guys did a great job making my job pretty easy, scoring goals early," Auld said. "And every time (Calgary) seemed to get one, we answered right back."

Dion Phaneuf and Rene Bourque had power-play goals for the Flames in their first loss after opening with four wins.

"We realized the opportunity we had to beat a very good team," said Auld, who spent last season with Ottawa. "We knew the situation that they played in Edmonton last night, an emotional win, they were riding high, and sometimes the tendency coming back home after a game like that is to have a bit of a lull and we were sitting here waiting and we were hungry for our first win."

Ribeiro, who also had an assist, opened the scoring on the first shot of the game, beating Curtis McElhinney off a rebound at 1:02.

"We took the lead and kept the lead," Ribeiro said. "It's the first game we've taken the lead. The other two games we've been chasing from behind."

McElhinney, making his first start of the season, shut out the Stars the rest of the period - making 14 saves.

"There's always a bit of nervousness," McElhinney said. "I felt comfortable, but unfortunately there were a few mistakes that I wish I could take back and that was the deciding factor in the game."

Dallas made it 2-0 on its first shot of the second period, with Sutherby scoring on a play set up by Toby Petersen and Ribeiro.

Phaneuf's third goal of the season put Calgary on the scoreboard with the man advantage at 4:17 of the second, but Dallas regained a two-goal cushion 5 minutes later when McElhinney misplayed Wandell's harmless shot from the blue line. It deflected off McElhinney's stick and trickled past the goalie and into the net.

"We turned over a lot of pucks in the neutral zone and we made a lot of those cross-ice passes that got intercepted and we've got to get better at that," Bourque said. "It was one of those nights where it was hard to get a lot of offense going."

NOTES: Calgary was trying to improve to 5-0 for the first time in franchise history. ... Calgary was 2 for 4 on the power play to improve to 7 for 15 overall. ... Dallas agitator Steve Ott was in the penalty box for both of the Flames' goals.