Five for Fighting

A month ago, this is a loss

Let's think back to about a month ago shall we? Maybe even beyond that... if the Ducks score that late goal on the Stars then, the Stars are hanging their heads, their body language is abysmal and they're likely out of here with a loss. My opinion, obviously, but I think Saturday night was an indication for how far this Stars team has come the past few weeks. No more Sean Avery, healthy bodies are back in the lineup, chemistry among the lines...

Good times.
OK some tidbits and quotes:
    I will continue to be a James Neal cheerleader if the kid keeps playing like this. Great work from him again tonight, and he's a great fit with Mike Modano and Jere Lehtinen (you'll remember Neal had chemistry with Modano early this season, when B.J. Crombeen was on the right side. Those two haven't lost it. And Jere, well, is Jere).
    Brad Richards is putting up the points we expected him to. Five games, 10 points, including a goal in each of his last four. He and Eriksson you never worry about, really, and Toby Petersen is fitting in just fine with that group. Thought he was strong on Saturday, and that pass that led to Richards' goal was a beauty. So was the placement of Richards' goal. Eriksson may have ended up without a point, but he drew that penalty in overtime to put the Stars on their fifth power play.
    Mike Modano is ageless. I should have that sentence on a save/get key on my computer. It bears repeating. In 72 career games against the Ducks he now has 77 points, more than anyone else against that team.

OK, some quotes:
    Dave Tippett: "I didn't like the game from a coach's point of view. It was sloppy and messy and looked like a lot of turkey was involved in it. But we'll take the points."
    Brad Richards: "Winning is addictive and losing is addictive, and right now we’re winning. It gets the good feeling going. That's just the way sports are. You have to turn it your way and we have the last few weeks with hard work. It wasn’t pretty at times but I think we deserved to win this one. Overall, we had some good opportunities and played, with the exception of maybe 5-6 minutes in the second period, pretty solid."
    Mike Ribeiro was amusing about his missed one-on-ones against Jean-Sebastien Giguere: "He knows me. Those French goalies, they know I’m not going to shoot right away. He was just standing there. Usually he goes down in the butterfly. (I took) too much time, I think."
    James Neal on his play lately: "I’m playing with (Mike) Modano and (Jere) Lehtinen, and they do such good things with the puck. It helps me out so much. You’ve seen over the years how good they are, and they help me out."

OK, kids, I'm ready to call it a night. That's four consecutive victories at home, all four have gone to overtime or shootout. Ah, at least they're keeping them interesting.

6-0, I mean 7-0 Stars

The wheels have officially come off for Vesa Toskala, who was mercifully pulled after allowing his seventh goal on 27 shots. Mike Ribeiro had the one to put the Stars up 6-0, just standing in front and pushing through the rebound. Landon Wilson and Matt Niskanen on the assists there.

Then it's James Neal's second off another rebound (there have been a lot of them tonight) as the Stars go up 7-0. And with that, a loud ovation came as Curtis Joseph got ready and came into this one for the Maple Leafs. Not to take the blame completely off Toskala, but his boys in front of him haven't been helping him at all tonight... nobody's pushing the Stars around in front of him.

Stars up 2-0

Well, when Mike Ribeiro is at his best he makes passes like he just did. Just flicks it cross-ice to a wide-open Steve Ott on Toskala's stick side, and Ott has an easy one for a 2-0 Stars lead at the 8:55 mark. Fabian Brunnstrom gets the second assist.

Now I don't know what's up with the scoreboard in here, but they still don't have a shot up for Toronto. I know they have at least two, but still...

Stars closer again

Don't know if this was Brad Richards or Mike Ribeiro up front, but it's a power-play goal nonetheless for the Stars, now trailing 3-2. See what happens when you get traffic in front?

Oh, and more push just gave them another power play. What a concept. Yes, I've had too much coffee and I'm tired of watching mucky hockey.

Healthy veterans and sweet stitches

    Pretty quiet at the morning skate this morning, because the Stars are enjoying something they haven't most of this season: Good health. Every body was out there today, and everybody's big or little hurts are healed. Nice change of pace. Jere Lehtinen and Sergei Zubov, meanwhile, have stepped in and basically returned to form. At least that's what it looks like to us. I asked Dave Tippett about their seemingly rust-less returns:
    "Every game’s a playoff game right now, so you can’t just shuffle around on the ice. We need top performances on the ice. When players are taking quality minutes, quality situations, we need those players to play well. The quicker they can get up to full speed, the better off we are."
    Meanwhile, Mike Ribeiro's left eye looks just fine. His stitches are right around his eyebrow, so they actually blend in. Told him he needs to make it part of his fashion repertoire:
    "I guess scar well," Ribeiro said. "You can’t really see it. I think it looks good."

Ribs at it again

Mike Ribeiro hasn't looked so great this season, but he's made up for it a bit tonight. Mike Ribeiro gets a power-play goal, his first goal of the season, to go with his four assists as the Stars take a 5-1 lead into the room. That last power play was a thing of beauty for the Stars. Great puck movement, and the Islanders were getting over to defend each pass too late.

That's a career-high, five-point night for Ribeiro, who had tallied four points in four different games before this. It also ties a career high for assists (the last time was Dec. 18, 2003, against Nashville).

1 for Barch, 4 for Ribs

Krys Barch gets his goal for the evening (second of the season) with a nice little bat-down of a Brenden Morrow pass, and it's 4-1 Stars. Mike Ribeiro had the secondary assist, his fourth of the evening. Haven't looked it up yet, but I'm guessing that's pretty close to a career-high for helpers in a game for him. Any-hoo, it's 4-1 at the 13:05 mark.

3-0 Stars and more booing

    The Stars are showing great energy (where has this been?!) and the boos we heard at the end of the period were definitely not for Avery. Oh, how quickly the home fans can turn on you.
    Anyway, back to the Stars. They came out jumping and controlled the action after the Islanders got a few quick shots off early in the first period. The Stars had the Isles scrambling midway through the period, when the Stars controlled the puck so well and were just setting up one shot attempt after the other in the Isles' zone.
    Oh, and now onto the Mike Ribeiro show... the Stars No. 1 center was every bit of that in the first period, with three sweet passes leading to goals. (Stars have been waiting for him to show up again). When he made the pickoff and pass to Loui Eriksson at the end of the period, you could hear the collective groan in the building. Ribeiro's now up to 302 career points, by the way.
    We'll see if the Islanders come back shooting in the second. They've been off a few days, so maybe they were sleepy in the first.

Stars up 2-0

The Stars go up 2-0, with Brenden Morrow and Mike Ribeiro connecting. But it started on the other end, with Marty Turco's sliding save of a breakaway shot from Islanders right wing Richard Park. From that, it was Robidas to Ribeiro, who passed through an Islander's legs to hit Morrow going full speed to the net.

2-0 with about five minutes remaining here in the first period.

Sick

I'm talking about Mike Ribeiro and Brenden Morrow here. Honestly, it looks like these guys spent all summer playing together. Don't know what the deal is with them (other than the fact that they're both pretty friggin' good), but they just blend together so well and so quickly. Morrow scored a power-play goal to tie this one at 2-2 late in the second period, and it came off (shockingly enough) a Ribeiro pass through the crease.

Anyway, Matt Climie is now in goal for the Stars to start the third period.