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Morrow helps Stars extend streak in home openers

Oct 8, 2006 - 3:24 AM DALLAS (Ticker) -- Martin Brodeur will have to wait at least five more days to call third place on the all-time wins list his own.

Brenden Morrow had a goal and an assist and Marty Turco stopped 19 shots as the Dallas Stars extended their unbeaten streak in home openers to eight games with a 3-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils.

Brodeur climbed into a tie for third with Hall of Famer Terry Sawchuk by recording his 447th career win Friday over the Carolina Hurricanes. But the two-time Vezina Trophy winner was unable to claim sole possession of the spot Saturday as Dallas tallied once in each period to improve to 7-0-1 in its first home game since falling to St. Louis on October 4, 1997.

Niklas Hagman gave the Stars the lead for good with a shorthanded goal midway through the opening session and Morrow doubled the advantage early in the second with his first goal of the season.

"It started out slow, we took some penalties, but then we got into their zone and got some quality chances," said Morrow, the Stars' new captain. "We are really happy to get the win, but we still need to work on starting strong every night."

Travis Zajac halved the deficit for New Jersey with his first career tally less than four minutes later, but Eric Lindros sealed the victory in the final minutes of the third.

"Momentum came in a number of situations and we got some really big saves out of Marty," Lindros said. "Overall, it wasn't the greatest game every played, but we'll take the two points."

Mike Ribeiro picked up an assist in his Dallas debut and Turco turned aside all nine shots he faced in the third for the Stars, who raised their all-time home record against the Devils to 27-13-6.

"Playing against them makes for a tough night, but we were ready tonight," Turco said. "We started well, played a great 60 minutes and we'll take some confidence into our West Coast road trip."

"We were pretty solid in a lot of areas, but there is still some room for improvement," Dallas coach Dave Tippett said. "We had some timely goals and killed some penalties. Anytime you can beat Brodeur, you'll take it."

Brodeur finished with 28 saves for New Jersey, which has not won its first two games of the season since 2002-03.

"It seemed like we were a second behind every play," Devils center Erik Rasmussen said. "We were a second behind reacting. We were all a little flat."

With Jeff Halpern serving a holding penalty, defenseman Philippe Boucher completed a pass in the offensive zone to a streaking Hagman, who roofed a shot past Brodeur with 8:12 to go in the first for a 1-0 lead.

"We tried to be aggressive on the penalty kill, like we were in Colorado (on Wednesday), and it worked well," Hagman said. "It doesn't matter who scores the goals or how, as long as we win in the end."

Just 4:44 into the second period, Morrow took a feed from behind the net by Ribeiro and fired the puck by Brodeur from the left hash marks to give Dallas a two-goal advantage.

The 20th overall pick in 2004, Zajac received a pass from Sergei Brylin, who was near the left wing boards, and made a nifty deke before slipping a backhander past Turco at 8:33 of the middle session for a power-play tally.

"It's a relief getting that first goal, but it stings a little bit because I got it under not the best circumstances," the 21-year-old Zajac said. "I'll take a win over a goal any day."