Talk about a quick one-two-three for the Dallas Stars.
Cody Eakin, Stephane Robidas and Ryan Garbutt produced a three-goal flurry in a 53 second span of the third period as the Stars beat the Pacific Division-leading Anaheim Ducks 6-3 on Tuesday night for their first home win in more than month.
“We were just still talking on the bench about: ‘OK, it’s a tie game. Let’s get this thing [under control], stay the course, do that,’ and next it’s 3-2,” Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau said. “It just went boom, boom. They got the goal and the crowd got into it, and then the rest is history.”
Photo: AFP
After giving up a goal to Nick Bonino in the final seconds of the second period that put the Ducks ahead 2-1, Dallas wiped out that deficit with the fastest three-goal stretch in the NHL since January last year.
“You’re thinking that we fought hard to tie it up, and want to go into the third period and try to play a 20 minute period of the win, and now we’re going to chase the game again as soon as we come out, but we were able to turn it, I can tell you a nice story now. Otherwise, we might have blamed the game on that late goal,” Stars coach Lindy Ruff said.
Eakin’s sixth goal of the season tied it 2-2 with 14 minutes, 35 seconds left. Only 25 seconds later, Robidas was between the circles when he scored his fourth of the season.
Photo: AFP
Garbutt then gathered a loose puck and scored with a backhanded swipe with 13:42 left to make it 4-2. He did not realize how quickly the trio of goals had come.
“But it was pretty cool,” said Garbutt, who also had two assists.
Fans in the building were suddenly in a frenzy as Boudreau finally called a time-out.
“We might have had to have a little bottle of NoDoz after the first period, but we woke them up in the third,” Ruff said.
Roussel was in the crease when he netted his second goal with just under eight minutes left. Jonas Hiller quickly argued with the referee to no avail, trying to get an interference call.
Dan Ellis stopped 28 shots, winning for only the second time in seven games.
Dallas had been 0-2-2 at home since a 5-1 victory over Calgary on Oct. 24.
Emerson Etem, Nick Bonino and Dustin Penner scored for the Ducks, who are 10-4-3 in their past 17 games. Penner’s tally was a power-play goal with 6:30 left.
“It does happen quickly,” Ducks center Andrew Cogliano said. “When momentum turns and it starts going the other way, it’s really hard to stop it.”
The Stars played the first of three straight home games. The next is tomorrow against the Central Division-leading Chicago Blackhawks, who have an NHL-best 38 points — one more than Anaheim and St Louis.
It was the second of three meetings this season for the former Pacific Division rivals, who used to play six times a season. It was the only trip to Dallas for the Ducks, who won 6-3 at home on Oct. 20 and are due to host the Stars again on Feb. 1.
Hiller, who faced 32 shots, gave up three goals on 12 shots against the Stars in the previous matchup before he was pulled from the game.
Bonino scored his seventh of the season with 36 seconds left in the second period.
He took a pass from Cogliano and the puck went off his skate, before he used his stick to score from the right side of the net for a 2-1 lead.
Etem scored from in front 6:06 into the game to give the Ducks a 1-0 lead.
Roussel tied it when the puck caromed in off his skate with 6:47 left in the second period. Officials reviewed the goal before ruling that it was not kicked into the net to the left of Hiller after a pass from Vernon Fiddler.
“That was a team win,” Roussel said. “We’re very excited about that win because everybody was involved.”
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two