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Third-period surge gives Stars victory over Blues

Sep 28, 2008 - 3:45 AM By John Tranchina PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

DALLAS (Ticker) -- There may not even be a spot for them, but B.J. Crombeen and James Neal continue to battle for a job with the Dallas Stars.

Both young forwards scored a goal Saturday as the Stars skated to a 4-3 preseason victory over the St. Louis Blues.

In their second matchup in four days, Dallas turned the tables on St. Louis, tallying three times in span of 3 minutes, 40 seconds in the third period to erase a 2-1 deficit.

After defenseman Roman Polak put the Blues ahead with a power-play goal 1:52 into the third, beating goaltender Marty Turco with a slap shot from just inside the blue line, the Stars began their comeback.

Steve Ott scored from the slot at 5:33 to tie it, and Neal followed with an outstanding individual effort at 7:09 to put Dallas ahead, 3-2. After stealing the puck from Polak and Yan Stastny in the right corner, Neal circled around the net and slid a quick backhander between the pads of netminder Chris Mason.

Captain Brenden Morrow gave the Stars a two-goal edge at 9:13, poking in a rebound of blue-liner Stephane Robidas' shot. But David Perron scored his fourth goal in as many preseason games on a power play with 6:44 remaining to draw the Blues within 4-3.

St. Louis opened the scoring just 5:28 into the game.

For the second straight contest, Turco botched an exchange with his defense, and the resulting turnover ended up on Steve Regier's stick behind the net. Matt Foy received a nifty backhand pass from Regier and slid the puck past a scrambling Turco.

Dallas tied it at 6:26 of the second as Crombeen unleashed a scorching wrist shot that zoomed past Mason, who made 31 saves.

Defenseman Nicklas Grossman collected a pair of assists and Turco stopped 16 shots for the Stars.