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Turco's shutout streak ends as Oilers blank Stars

Dec 9, 2006 - 4:23 AM DALLAS (Ticker) -- As the Edmonton Oilers put a stop to Marty Turco's career-high shutout streak, Dwayne Roloson moved closer to the longest scoreless stretch of his NHL tenure.

Defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron halted Turco's run of invincibility midway through the first period and Roloson made 22 saves for his second straight shutout as the Oilers extended their road winning streak to three games with a 2-0 triumph over the Dallas Stars.

Entering with two straight blankings, Turco kept Edmonton off the scoreboard for the first 11:12 before Bergeron scored a power-play goal to give the Oilers a 1-0 lead. The tally ended Turco's shutout streak at 154 minutes, 18 seconds, which eclipsed his previous mark of 143:25 set from November 20-23, 2002.

"The shutout streak isn't on my mind at all," Turco said. "I don't really care about that."

It proved to be all the support necessary for Roloson, who turned aside six shots in the first period and eight in each of the next two sessions for his third shutout of the season and 21st career. The blanking also stretched the Edmonton netminder's scoreless run to 126:19 - just 22:14 shy of matching his career best established from March 7-18, 2002 while with Minnesota.

"They're a great offensive team, but as a team, we played a great defensive game," Roloson said. "When they got scoring chances, we got a stick (on the puck) or our defensemen were making big blocks."

Roloson has not allowed a goal since Anson Carter tallied at 13:41 of the second period in Columbus' 4-0 victory on Saturday. Roloson did not play the third session of that contest but blanked Vancouver two days later.

Raffi Torres also scored and Jarret Stoll recorded two assists for Edmonton, which ended Dallas' six-game home winning streak.

"We spent a lot of time in our own zone," Oilers coach Craig MacTavish said. "We collapsed into the right areas and relied on some outstanding goaltending."

Turco finished with 13 saves for the Stars, who fell to 19-4-2 at home against the Oilers since moving to Dallas in 1993 while playing without Mike Modano, Eric Lindros and Brenden Morrow.

"I remember my first couple years, it was really hard to win here," Bergeron said. "Obviously, tonight they are depleted, so it's hard to compare. We're on some sort a roll tonight, so we didn't want to give them a chance and take them lightly."

"We've had struggles here," MacTavish admitted. "Different era, a couple different teams. I don't think there was ever a time where this building was easy for any opponent."

Entering fourth in the league in penalty-killing (88.1 percent), the Stars got themselves in penalty trouble midway through the first period and paid for it. With Matthew Barnaby already serving a high-sticking infraction, defenseman Darryl Sydor was called for delay of game when his clearing attempt sailed over the glass.

Dallas managed to kill the 5-on-3, which lasted 94 seconds. But just as Barnaby stepped out of the penalty box, Bergeron took a cross-slot pass from Petr Sykora and one-timed it past Turco for his third tally of the season.

"Lately, we've been effective on the 5-on-3," Bergeron said. "Probably not my best shot, but (they) probably were not expecting the puck to go where it did. I'm just happy that I scored when it was not my best shot."

Torres doubled the advantage at 2:51 of the second, getting a feed from blue-liner Daniel Tjarnqvist and firing the puck between Turco's pads.

It was one of just 15 shots for the Oilers, a new season low.

"Dallas is a really good defensive team," Bergeron said. "They've got some really good defensemen, and with all the injuries (they have), they're probably making sure that they've got guys back on defense."

The Stars, who fell to 11-3-0 at home, were unable to break through against the Oilers' league-leading penalty-killing unit, going 0-for-5 with the man advantage. Edmonton has yielded just 13 power-play goals in 130 shorthanded situations this season.

"We did a good job," MacTavish said. "We highlighted a few areas of strength they've had in the past and took them away."

"As we know, power play and penalty kill is what wins games in this league," Torres added.

Dallas had a 5-on-3 chance in the second period but managed just one shot on goal.

"It could have been a turning point and given us a lot of momentum to take advantage of our 5-on-3," Stars center Mike Ribeiro said. "But that's a good lesson for us to come ready to play from the start."