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Ribeiro propels Stars past Canadiens

Dec 24, 2007 - 4:47 AM DALLAS (Ticker) -- Mike Ribeiro continued his torrid pace on Sunday.

Playing against his former team, Ribeiro had a goal and two assists as the Dallas Stars defeated the Montreal Canadiens, 4-1, on Sunday.

Ribeiro had two goals - including the game-winner 57 seconds into overtime - in the Stars' 3-2 victory over the Calgary Flames on Friday.

He has a team-leading 19 goals and is one tally shy of his career high, which was set with the Canadiens in 2003-04. The Montreal native played six seasons with the Canadiens before being dealt to Dallas in September 2006.

Ribeiro insisted that he wasn't interested in past ties.

"I was really focused on what we were here to do," he said.

On Sunday, Ribeiro assisted on first-period power-play goals by Antti Miettinen and Brenden Morrow for the Pacific Division-leading Stars, who have won six of their last seven games.

Dallas increased its lead to 3-0 just 70 seconds into the third period, courtesy of Ribeiro.

After blue-liner Roman Hamrlik misplayed the puck in his defensive end, Ribeiro skated in and beat rookie Carey Price.

Ribeiro, Morrow and Miettinen have played on the same line for nine games. In the last seven contests, they have totaled 15 goals and 17 assists - including seven of each for Ribeiro.

"That line was very solid. They pushed the game along," Dallas coach Dave Tippett said.

Stu Barnes upped Dallas' advantage to 4-0 with his second goal of the season.

Defenseman Andrei Markov denied goaltender Marty Turco in his bid for his 32nd career shutout with a shorthanded goal with 6:25 remaining in the third period.

"I thought we'd come in with a better game," Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau said. "There are times during the season, when you need that extra emotion, extra work - and tonight we didn't have it."

Turco was pleased with his team's performance against the highly-skilled Canadiens.

"We were applying pressure at the right times, especially with the skills set of their players," he said. "We made them uncomfortable."

Turco and Price each finished with 17 saves for their respective teams.