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Ribeiro, Miettinen lead Stars to seventh straight home win

Dec 14, 2007 - 5:57 AM By John Tranchina PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

DALLAS (Ticker) -- The Dallas Stars were supposed to have trouble scoring goals this season. Lately, that has not been a problem.

Mike Ribeiro recorded a career-high four points and Antti Miettinen added a goal and two assists as the Stars defeated the Los Angeles Kings, 4-1, on Thursday night.

Captain Brenden Morrow also tallied a goal and an assist and defenseman Sergei Zubov set up a pair of tallies for Dallas, which has scored nine goals in its last two games and defeated the Kings at home for the seventh straight time.

"That line gave us the offensive spark we needed," Stars coach Dave Tippett said of the unit of Ribeiro, Morrow and Miettinen. "The whole line was feeding off each other tonight and was excellent in creating. We challenged our veteran leadership before the game because these were points we needed, and Brenden, Ribeiro and Miettinen took that challenge to heart."

The Stars have scored 94 goals this season, ranking them second in the Western Conference.

Ribeiro opened the scoring at 11:52 of the first period on Dallas' second shot of the game.

Miettinen wound up for an uncontested slapper from the slot, but then slid a nice pass just to the left of the goalpost, where Ribeiro easily tapped the puck past goaltender Jonathan Quick.

"The guys on my line are working so hard and the passes are nice, but it's the work that is so good," said Miettinen, who has five points in two games while on the top line after missing seven of eight contests with a groin ailment. "I think I'm getting in the flow and getting more opportunities to play and am feeling more comfortable out there."

After Morrow scored a power-play goal less than three minutes into the second, Miettinen gave Dallas a 3-0 advantage when his one-timer from the left faceoff circle was deflected and floated past the glove of Quick at 7:03.

Ribeiro scored his second goal of the game and team-leading 15th of the season with 5:04 left in the period, giving the Stars a commanding 4-0 lead.

Just 10 seconds into a power play, Zubov launched a wrist shot from the right circle that was stopped by Quick. But the puck dropped behind him and rolled along the goal line before Ribeiro swatted it into the vacant net from near the left post.

"The key was winning the draw," said Morrow, who deflected Zubov's shot in front but was not given an assist. "When Zubov has the puck on his stick, good things are going to happen. I got a piece of it, but it didn't get in.

"Ribs got it in after I got a little tip on it. Sometimes (the official scorer missing an assist) happens. I didn't think I deserved one on the first goal, so it evens out."

The tally prompted Kings coach Marc Crawford to pull the rookie Quick, who was making just his third NHL start since being recalled from the American Hockey League on December 2. Jean-Sebastien Aubin entered and made 10 saves in relief.

"He was starting to think too much," Crawford said of Quick. "I had to get him out of there. But he's a young goalie."

Meanwhile, the Stars' power play, which entered the game ranked fifth in the league, was only in action for a total of 25 seconds but went 2-for-2.

"The power play gave us two that seemed to break it open, and it was good to see that," Tippett said.

Entering the third period with a commanding 4-0 lead, the Stars were determined to avoid a major collapse like the one they had against the Kings on November 10, when Los Angeles stormed back with five goals in the final seven minutes en route to a 6-5 overtime victory.

The Stars are 10-4-1 since, but when defenseman Tom Preissing scored a power-play goal 3:29 into the third for the Kings, some players could not help but remember that game.

"I think it was important that the next line that went out after that got the puck deep, kind of kept that feeling from creeping in," Morrow said. "It was a big shift for us right after that goal. We wanted to steal that momentum and not let them build off of it."

The Kings, despite a late power play, never had another prime scoring chance and fell for the second straight time and 11th in their last 13 against Dallas.

"Our guys battled hard. We had a good start," Crawford said. "They had a lot of chances to quit, but I thought we were strong in the third period."

"It's frustrating," Kings defenseman - and former Star - Jaroslav Modry said. "Breakdowns cost us the game. We were solid at the start, but we had a breakdown that cost us, and we were behind the rest of the night."

Marty Turco stopped 26 shots, including 10 in the third period, in posting his 11th win of the season for Dallas.