GAME THREAD: NHL: EDMONTON (13-17) at DALLAS (15-15)

By John Tranchina
PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer


DALLAS (Ticker) - Who says scoring is down this season?

With some complaining that scoring has reached as low a point asit was before the 2004-05 lockout, two usually defensive-mindedteams combined for nine goals.


Brenden Morrow got the last one, as the Dallas Stars defeatedthe Edmonton Oilers, 5-4 in overtime on Monday night.

The game got off to a blistering start and Morrow put thefinishing touches on it with a power-play goal with one minuteleft in the extra session.


Sergei Zubov controlled the puck at the top of the right circleand zipped a pass to Morrow on the doorstep and the Starscaptain re-directed it past Edmonton goaltender Mathieu Garon.

"Getting it done in overtime, taking advantage of the power playwas huge," Morrow said of his 10th goal of the season. "Wetried that play about 30 seconds before and I flubbed it, but healways puts it on the tape and made just a great pass to me forthe winner. He is a guy that is not well-known, but we know thevalue of him to our team."


Zubov finished with a goal and three assists, allowing him totake over the lead among NHL defensemen with 24 assists and 28points on the season. His 21-year-old defense partner, rookieMatt Niskanen, contributed a goal and two assists.

"Nisky has been great and I feel reborn playing with him," the37-year-old Zubov said. "He has so much patience and makes playsseem so easy. We needed points and this was a big win for us."

The tone was set early as the Oilers and Stars scored five goalsin span of 4:40 in the first period, and continued asEdmonton's Shawn Horcoff tied the game 4-4 with 9:24 remainingin the third period.


"It wasn't as tight a checking as either coach would've liked,but there were some nice plays both ways," Dallas coach DaveTippett said. "Give the players some credit. Points are valuablehome or away, and against a young, hungry team makes them evenbigger."


"I was comfortable going into overtime, I was happy with theeffort," Edmonton coach Craig MacTavish said of his club, whichlost its third straight. "We had a few fundamental mistakes. Webattled hard and there were some good positive signs. Ouroffense created some good opportunities. But when you have ayoung team you're going to have some fundamental breakdowns. Butat the same time I saw a some positives."


For Dallas, Mike Ribeiro scored one goal and one assist, whileAntti Miettinen returned from a three-game absence due to agroin injury to post two assists. Mike Modano netted the Stars'other goal.


Dustin Penner led the way for the Oilers with a goal and anassist, as rookie Sam Gagner and Tom Gilbert also tallied.

Gagner scored at 4:26 of the first period, setting off a flurryof activity that saw four more goals scored within a span of2:22 and left the Stars leading 3-2 midway through the openingframe and the Oilers with a new goalie.


First Ribeiro and Niskanen scored goals just 22 seconds apart togive the Stars a quick 2-1 lead. Ribeiro finished off a prettypassing play in which all five players on the ice touched thepuck. Then Niskanen ripped a slap shot from the blue linethrough a screen over Edmonton starting goalie Dwayne Roloson'sshoulder.


"I've had a few like that this year, I think that's my style toscore goals, just be by the post, but it was a great pass byMiet," Ribeiro said of his team-leading 13th goal of the season.

The Oilers struck back just 1:10 later as Penner scored hisseventh goal on a fluky bounce at 8:26. Penner cut out frombehind the Dallas net for a wrap-around attempt, and the puckdeflected up and off Stars defenseman Stephane Robidas' head andricocheted past Turco.


"It hit my stick, hit my visor and went top shelf," Robidassaid, shaking his head. "Just bad luck. There's nothing you cando. Nine out of 10, it will hit my stick and go over me or goback behind the net."


But the Stars weren't finished as Modano banged home an easytap-in from the lip of the crease off a nice cross-ice pass fromJussi Jokinen with Roloson down for his 10th goal of the seasonat 9:06 to put the Stars back in front 3-2.


With Roloson having surrendered three goals on six shots,MacTavish opted to replace him with Garon, who did a solid jobin relief, making 22 saves.


"There were three goals in 10 minutes, I can't say what it was,but that's too many," MacTavish said of why he made the switch."It was time for a change."


"We battled hard, we created some opportunities for ourselves,"said Oiler Fernando Pisani, who had one assist. "We just came upshort."