DALLAS -- The Dallas Stars marked the return of goaltender Marty Turco with one of their best efforts of the season.
 | |
| Brenden Morrow flashes a smile after his second goal. (AP) |
The Stars now have 100 points, eliminating the second-place Anaheim Mighty Ducks from the division race and clinching Dallas' fourth Pacific crown in the last five seasons.
Dallas is tied with Detroit for most points in the Western Conference.
"The players were excited to have Marty back in there," Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "I think it definitely showed on the ice. Marty made five or six tough saves that really helped us."
Sergei Zubov added a power-play goal for the Stars, who had been in a 1-3-0-1 slump and were 7-6-3-2 behind reserve goaltenders Ron Tugnutt and Corey Hirsch during Turco's absence.
Turco sprained his right ankle Feb. 11 against the Carolina Hurricanes, and the lingering injury showed little progress until the last week when he began skating in practice. At the time of the injury, Dallas had the NHL's best record (33-11-12-1), and Turco led the league with a 1.77 goals-against average.
Turco, greeted by a standing ovation when he was announced with the starters, stretched his unbeaten streak to 15 games (11-0-4) to set a club record. He made his biggest stop 20 seconds into the second period when he denied Steve Martins on a breakaway.
"It felt awesome," Turco said. "The reaction by the fans is something I'll never forget. It was perfect. My ankle doesn't feel any more sore but my legs were really tired."
Dallas dominated play, holding a 34-13 shots edge.
Shjon Podein scored a first-period goal for the Blues, who had been 8-2-1 in their last 11 but lost at home on Saturday to the Detroit Red Wings, 4-2.
"We didn't have much gas in the tank tonight," Blues coach Joel Quenneville said. "We were chasing the entire game instead of attacking."
Morrow's rebound 2:05 after the opening faceoff gave Dallas a 1-0 lead, but Podein beat Turco 58 seconds later with his fourth goal to tie it at 1.
With the Stars on a power play, Morrow established position in front of the net and fired a shot high over Blues goaltender Brent Johnson for his 19th goal of the season at 13:11 of the first period, putting Dallas ahead 2-1.
Zubov's shot through a crowd and got the puck past Johnson at 3:50 of the second period to extend the Stars' lead to 3-1.
The Stars were on a power play for Zubov's goal after Reed Low of the Blues received 27 minutes in penalties, including a game misconduct, for instigating a fight with Phillippe Boucher.
St. Louis center Petr Cajanek got a cut over his right eye in the first period after a crunching open-ice check by Boucher, and the Blues spent the rest of the game trying to get back at Boucher, who was not penalized for the hit. Cajanek was knocked out for the rest of the game.
A total of 10 fighting majors, six misconducts, and 132 penalty minutes (74 against St. Louis) were assessed.
In the final minute, Jeff Finley of the Blues was serving a slashing minor when he reached out of the penalty box and started punching Derian Hatcher of the Stars while Hatcher was pummeling Pavol Demitra. That earned Finley a game misconduct.
"Petr's a good player for us and we can't let that stuff slip by," Blues captain Al MacInnis said. "I think we reacted the way most teams would. Whether it's a clean hit or not, you have to protect your players."
Notes
- Dallas C Jason Arnott hit goalposts twice in the first period.
- Morrow scored his first power-play goal of the season and had his ninth two-goal game of his career. Morrow has never had a hat trick.
- Zubov scored his 10th goal, giving Dallas 10 double-digit goal-scorers. The Stars had only seven players with 10 or more goals last season.
- The previous record for an unbeaten streak by a Dallas goaltender was held by Don Beaupre, who was unbeaten in 14 straight (14-0-0) in 1985-86.
- The Stars reached 100 points for the sixth time in seven seasons, most in the NHL over than span.
AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service
Copyright 2003, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved
