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Turco moves into second place on Stars' victory list

Nov 4, 2006 - 5:28 AM EDMONTON, Alberta (Ticker) -- Marty Turco's latest milestone helped solidify his place among the league's elite goaltenders.

Turco made 24 saves to become the second-winningest goaltender in franchise history as the Dallas Stars recorded their 11th win in 13 games, a 3-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers.

Playing in his sixth season with the Stars, the 31-year-old Turco recorded his 146th victory to surpass Gilles Meloche on the team's all-time list. Ed Belfour is the all-time franchise leader (160).

Turco, who tied Buffalo's Ryan Miller with his league-best ninth win, caught a break when Ales Hemsky's potential game-tying goal with 4.1 seconds remaining was disallowed after referee Mick McGeough ruled a controversial hand pass was made off a faceoff prior to the shot.

"I can't help but think that ... he feels like he's the show out there," Oilers coach Craig MacTavish said of McGeough. "He makes some call from deep in the corner when the linesman is right there on top of it. You'd think that if (Shawn) Horcoff knocked it back with his glove that the linesman would be able to see that. ... He's one person of 17,000 in the building that saw it that way. It's ridiculous."

"All that matters is what my ears heard and that's the whistle," Turco said. "As for why it went in doesn't really matter. We all saw what actually happened but that's the way it goes. I don't think anybody envies being a referee and calling this great game. We have the best in the world but nobody is perfect."

The first goal Turco allowed came on a fluke shot by Ryan Smyth at 4:05 of the second period.

Chasing down Brad Winchester's shot, Smyth took a blind shot from the left corner that hit the left post and bounced off Turco's back before crossing the goal line to cut Dallas' lead to 2-1.

"I'm not going to put it past him to throw it off the side of the net and look for a ricochet," Turco said of Smyth. "He spends more time on the ice than anyone else in this league so ... he knows the angles and caroms. I kind of chuckled to myself because if it's anybody but him, you'd think it was dumb luck."

The Stars opened the scoring with 7:56 left in the first session when Eric Lindros fed captain Brenden Morrow, who fanned on his first attempt from the right faceoff circle before beating goaltender Dwayne Roloson inside the right post.

Edmonton players and coaches complained Morrow's tally should not have counted because Lindros interfered with Roloson in crease.

"Eric goes right through him and interferes with Roloson and knocks the blocker hand forward and the minute that hand goes forward, the puck goes in the net," MacTavish said. "That's the time to go spastic, not at the end."

"I was told before the third period by one of the officials that they blew that call (the first Dallas goal) and that one shouldn't have counted," Oilers center Jarret Stoll said. "When you look at it, there's two right there. It doesn't decide the game right there but it sure as heck makes it a different game and maybe means a point or two for us."

Niklas Hagman doubled the margin with 1:54 remaining in the opening period with a wrister of Stu Barnes' cross-ice pass that found a gap inside the left post for his fourth tally.

Defenseman Trevor Daley gave the Stars a 3-1 lead with 58 seconds remaining in the second period by rifling a one-timer from just inside the blue line between Roloson's pads for his first goal of the season.

Off to the best road start in franchise history (6-1-0), Dallas joined Buffalo as the only teams with 11 victories this season.

"Our big guys have played well and our leaders have stepped up, but I think the credit is how we got those 11 victories," Turco said. "By no means have these guys ever been content in here. The desire and hunger is there every day in practice and in the gym and it's a commitment that (has) been a pleasure to watch. "

"Just a collection of a lot of timely goals, a lot of things that (fall) together at the right time," Stars center Mike Modano said. "It's a real fresh energy about everything. We've always wanted to get off to a great October and November because our schedule gets pretty congested as we go, so the more points we can gather early the better."

Petr Sykora scored his eighth goal with 1:25 left and Roloson stopped 23 shots for the Oilers, who have lost their last two home games after winning their first six.