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Turco, Stars return home after splitting two

Apr 15, 2007 - 3:09 PM Vancouver at Dallas 8:30 pm EDT Western Conference Quarterfinals Series tied, 1-1

DALLAS (Ticker) -- Marty Turco hopes for a repeat performance.

Turco and the Dallas Stars return home after splitting the first two games of the Western Conference quarterfinals against the Vancouver Canucks.

Turco recorded his first career postseason shutout on Friday, making 35 saves in a 2-0 victory in Game Two.

The 31-year-old goaltender made 10 saves in the first period, eight in the second and 17 in the third.

"The guys helped me tremendously to see the puck and collect rebounds," said Turco, who is 9-15 all-time in the playoffs. "They were there most when I needed them. Their focus seemed unwavering."

Jeff Halpern and rookie Joel Lundqvist scored in the opening minute of the first and second periods for the Stars, who have won eight of their last nine series when winning Game Two.

After his record setting performance in Game One, Vancouver's Roberto Luongo recorded 25 saves on Friday. He made a playoff franchise-record 72 saves in his postseason debut, a four-overtime win in Game One.

"We didn't think we were going to sweep the series," Luongo said. "We've been playing well on the road all year long, especially the second half of the year, so we're a confident group and we can get the job done on the road."

With injuries to Matt Cooke (groin), Alex Burrows (upper body) and Ryan Kesler (finger), Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault was forced the insert Tommi Santala and call up Nathan Smith and Jannik Hansen from the American Hockey League.

Hansen registering four shots on goal in almost 10 minutes of ice time in his playoff debut.

Vigneault did not believe the length of the series' thrilling four-overtime opener was a factor in his team's poor performance in Game Two.

"For me, it was two mistakes at the beginning of the first and second periods from two different forwards," he said. "It wasn't a fact that our guys were fatigued, it was just the fact that we didn't bring our best game to the table."