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Parrish dazzles in debut as Stars cruise past Ducks

Nov 8, 2008 - 7:30 AM ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- Mark Parrish provided the spark the Dallas Stars needed.

Parrish recorded his sixth career hat trick in his first game with his new team, lifting the Stars to a 5-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Friday.

"That was a good one by Parrish, that's for sure," Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "He made the most of his opportunities tonight. That is one of things we knew was in his game. A couple power-play goals, just timely, good on-the-spot goals - he jumped on the opportunity of the turnover and got another one. He was a solid player for us tonight."

Rookie Fabian Brunnstrom and Brad Richards also tallied and Marty Turco stopped 28 shots for Dallas, which improved to 1-2-0 on its five-game road trip.

Defenseman Scott Niedermayer and Brendan Morrison scored for Anaheim, which had won three straight and eight of nine.

"We got away from our game of just the hard work, the skating and the simple things," Niedermayer said. "They came out and did those things. They had us back a little bit and got those early goals. When you're playing against a team that is pretty determined defensively like they were, it's tough to turn it around. We tried, but we weren't able to do it."

"We didn't play very well," Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf added. "That's something we're going to accept as a group. ... They came into our building, they played better than we did and the scoreboard showed it."

Teemu Selanne notched an assist for Anaheim, moving him past Paul Kariya for first place on the franchise list with 370. The "Finnish Flash" extended his points streak to nine games with the assist.

However, Selanne and the Ducks were cooled off by Parrish, who signed a one-year contract with the Stars on Wednesday.

The 31-year-old put the Stars up, 2-0, with a power-play tally at 10:44 of the first period. He took a feed from Sean Avery behind the net and beat goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere to the glove side.

Parrish scored another man-advantage goal 73 seconds into the middle period, when he poked in a long rebound. He then converted a breakaway at 5:52 to give Dallas a 4-1 bulge and complete his first hat trick since December 9, 2006 against Chicago.

"I was hoping to get off to a good start. I wasn't expecting that," said Parrish, who had been playing on a tryout basis with the Bridgeport of the American Hockey League before signing with Dallas. "Some nice bounces kind of came my way, some great plays by my linemates - Avery on the first one. Guys working on the power play on the cycle and just bounces to my stick.

"I'm still trying to figure out how the third one went in. I'm not sure who was more surprised, myself or Giguere, that that thing went by him."

Parrish's breakaway opportunity occurred when Niedermayer fell at his own blue line while attempting to play the puck.

"I knocked it down, it went into my feet and I just stepped right on it," Anaheim's captain said. "Things like that do happen in a hockey game."

A nine-year veteran, Parrish showed no rust in his first NHL game in nearly seven months. He recorded 16 goals and 14 assists in 66 games with Minnesota last season but fell out of favor with coach Jacques Lemaire and had his contract bought out at the end of the campaign.

Parrish was glad to help out his new club right away.

"You want to come in and make a difference if you can," he said. "Like I said, I was lucky enough to get some bounces and get some opportunities, and they fell in for me. It kind of makes up for the nights when you seem to get a bunch of them and can't find a way to get it behind the goalie."

Parrish's third goal spelled the end of the night for Giguere, who stopped nine shots before giving way to Jonas Hiller. The Swiss netminder made 12 saves in relief.

Richards made it 5-1 at 9:01 of the third with his fourth goal. Niedermayer deflected fellow defenseman Chris Pronger's shot past Turco 94 seconds later for the final margin.

The regulation loss was Anaheim's first in its last 10 games.

"I think that tonight was a lot different than the last bunch of games that we've played as far as our ability to defend," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. "It seemed like we were a dog chasing a car tonight at times. It showed on the scoreboard."

"We didn't have a very good effort tonight all around," Morrison added. "I don't think they played exceptionally well, I just don't think that we were as sharp as we needed to be. ... We didn't do enough. Now, the key here is to see how quickly we can rebound. That is the sign of a good team, is to bounce back right away."

The 23-year-old Brunnstrom, who recorded a hat trick in his NHL debut against Nashville on October 15, opened the scoring at 7:07 of the first period, beating Giguere with a backhander for his sixth goal of the season.

"A goal is a goal," the Swedish Brunnstrom said. "It was a good start getting the first goal. Maybe that was the spark."

After Parrish doubled Dallas' lead, Morrison got Anaheim on the scoreboard with 2:32 remaining in the opening session with his first goal as a Duck. The 33-year-old, who signed a one-year contract with Anaheim over the summer after 7 1/2 seasons with Vancouver, poked the rebound of Ryan Carter's shot past Turco.

"It was pretty much laying there. It's not the kind of one that you dream about, but a goal is a goal," said Morrison, who entered with just one assist in 15 games this season. "It's always nice to contribute. The last three games, it feels like it's starting to come, so hopefully it's a sign."

Turco thought he had the puck frozen between his arm and body when, in fact, it was sitting exposed in the crease.

"I had it squeezed," the netminder said. "After I saw a quick replay, it just dropped out. You're not really going to feel those, and you kind of rely on the referee to blow the whistle.

"It was a great play on (Morrison's) part. For a guy that's struggling, even though I was a little disappointed, after that goal went in, at that point in the game, I had a little smirk of a smile to hear that he scored. ... It was a good night to see him score and a great night for us to win."