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Turco, power play help Stars halt skid

Mar 10, 2007 - 7:49 AM COLUMBUS, Ohio (Ticker) -- Marty Turco recorded his 30th victory in impressive fashion.

Turco made 30 saves and defenseman Sergei Zubov had a goal and an assist as the Dallas Stars halted a four-game losing streak with a 3-0 triumph over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Entering 0-2-2 in their previous four games, the Stars (39-23-5) relied on the strong play of Turco and success of their power play to forge a tie for fifth place in the Western Conference with the Minnesota Wild (38-24-7) and San Jose Sharks (40-25-3).

"There was no extra motivation needed today the way things have been going for us," Turco said. "What we have been talking about as a club is for everyone to do what we can. For me, it's the best I have felt in a while and I am pretty sure it's going to be here to stay."

"I've seen him like that before," Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock said. "He was good. ... You can say the goalie was great, he was. But you still have to find a way to outwork the goalie. That's a challenge you have to meet."

In recording his fifth shutout of the season and 29th career, Turco turned aside 11 shots in the first period, six in the second and 13 in the third. The win gave the All-Star goaltender 30 for the fourth consecutive campaign.

"I was able to see the puck well," Turco said. "That's a big factor, and everything else just falls into place. Shutouts are great. They are a team effort, especially against a team like Columbus, who has been playing well at home."

"He was excellent," Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "He made some big saves early for us and let us get our feet under us. I thought we played a real solid team game after that."

With just two power-play goals in its previous four contests, Dallas matched that total in this one. Zubov played a role in both tallies, scoring midway through the second period to give the Stars a 1-0 lead and helping set up Mike Ribeiro late in the third to seal the victory.

"It's never easy playing against teams that are not in the playoffs, and lately, we've been losing to those teams," Ribeiro said. "Marty kept us in the game and we were able to get some goals on the power play."

"I think the difference in the hockey game was power play," Hitchcock said. "They scored on their opportunities, we didn't. In games that are that close, special teams are huge. They won the special teams game."

Niklas Hagman added an even-strength goal and defenseman Philippe Boucher had two assists for Dallas, which improved to 11-1-2 in its last 14 meetings with Columbus.

Fredrik Norrena stopped 28 shots for the Blue Jackets, who had their three-game winning streak snapped.

"We were playing hard, but we just couldn't get anything past (Turco)," Columbus' Jason Chimera said.

The Blue Jackets were blanked for the 14th time this season.

"It's unacceptable," Columbus left wing Rick Nash said. "We didn't test (Turco) that much. Most of the shots hit him right in the chest. Give him credit, but we just didn't do our job."

Just 10 seconds into the game, Chimera nearly gave Columbus the lead, but his shot rang off the crossbar. The contest remained scoreless until 11:03 of the second period, when Zubov blasted a one-timer from the left faceoff circle past Norrena for his first goal in 13 games.

Hagman ended a seven-game drought with 8:09 to go in the third, knocking in the rebound of Jere Lehtinen's one-timer from the right circle for his 14th of the season and a 2-0 advantage. It was the Finn's 50th tally of his career.

Ribeiro completed the scoring with 4:19 remaining, redirecting a feed from Boucher at the left side of the crease.

"We got a couple of power-play goals. Our special teams were all pretty good," said Tippett, whose club successfully killed all three of its shorthanded situations. "Turco led the penalty kill and our power play got us a couple. That's how we play."