Vancouver (10-7-0) at Dallas (6-3-6)

  • Game info: 8:30 pm EST Fri Nov 6, 2009
  • TV: RSNP, FSSW

By JEFF MEZYDLO, STATS Senior Writer Nov 6, 12:36 am EST

Preview | Box Score | Recap | Highlights

A rash of injuries hasn’t prevented the Vancouver Canucks from stringing together some wins.

The surging Canucks look for a season-high fourth consecutive victory when they visit the Dallas Stars on Friday night.

Alex Burrows(notes) had a goal with an assist and recently acquired Matt Pettinger(notes) also scored to help short-handed Vancouver (10-7-0) post a 5-2 win at Minnesota in the opener of a five-game road trip Thursday.

The result was a third straight win and fourth in five games for the Canucks, who are playing without stars Roberto Luongo(notes) (rib injury), Daniel Sedin(notes) (foot), Pavol Demitra(notes) (shoulder) and Steve Bernier(notes) (flu). Vancouver entered that contest having lost 82 man-games to injury.

“We’re having fun and we believe in each other and every night it’s a new guy stepping up,” said Andrew Raycroft(notes), who made 28 saves in his fifth straight game in place of Luongo.

Enforcer Darcy Hordichuk(notes) scored his first goal in 50 games and Pettinger found the back of the net in his second since signing with the Canucks on Monday.

“You’re not going to win with one line and you’re not going to win with two lines,” right wing Mikael Samuelsson(notes) said. “You’re going to win with your whole team.”

While the Canucks are fortunate to get contributions from some unlikely sources, players like Burrows and Henrik Sedin(notes) - who scored his eighth goal Thursday—are still expected to carry the load in the offensive end.

Burrows had a goal while Henrik Sedin and Samuelsson each added two assists in Vancouver’s 4-3 shootout win at home over Dallas on Oct. 11. Sedin has two goals and four assists in his last three games versus the Stars.

While Luongo likely won’t return until next week, the red-hot Raycroft is expected to be back in net for this contest. The former Calder Trophy winner is 4-1-0 with a league-leading 1.60 goals-against average this season, and 3-0-0 with a 1.67 GAA against Dallas.

Current backup Cory Schneider(notes) allowed three goals on 12 shots in his only action during a 7-2 loss at Anaheim on Oct. 30.

Vancouver is 3-5-0 on the road, but will try for a fourth straight win over Dallas (6-3-6), which tries to bounce back after a 3-2 overtime loss to Calgary on Wednesday.

“(The Canucks) will be another tough matchup,” defenseman Stephane Robidas(notes) told the Stars’ official Web site. “It will be another chippy game. They’ll come strong.”

Dallas’ James Neal(notes) has scored six of his team-leading nine goals in the last six games. He has two with an assist in five career contests against the Canucks.

Despite the return of longtime veterans Mike Modano(notes) and Jere Lehtinen(notes) from injuries Wednesday, Dallas dropped to 0-1-2 after winning two in a row. The Stars are 1-0-6 in games that have gone beyond regulation.

“We want those points,” said center Mike Ribeiro(notes), who’s gone without a point in his last two contests, but had a goal with an assist against the Canucks last month. “But we cannot look back now, we can only look forward and focus for the next game.”

After missing two games with flu-like symptoms, the Stars’ Marty Turco(notes) stopped 19 shots against the Flames. He’s 4-2-4 with a 2.33 GAA this season and 17-6-2 with a 1.95 GAA versus Vancouver.

Updated Nov 6, 12:36 am EST
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Team Comparison

Team G W L OTL Pts Standings GF GA Road/Home
Vancouver 23 12 11 0 24 3rd, Northwest 67 60 4-8-0 Road
Dallas 23 11 6 6 28 2nd, Pacific 70 65 5-3-3 Home

Notes

The Canucks avoided an embarrassing loss Thursday, scoring with 73 seconds remaining in the third period to snap a 3-3 tie after entering the session with a 3-0 lead. ... Vancouver was 1-for-7 on the power play. ... C Ryan Kesler and RW Pavol Demitra each registered a game-high five shots on goal. ... C Kyle Wellwood won all seven of his faceoffs.

May 1, 12:38 am EDT

C Mike Modano is the 30th NHL player to appear in 1,400 games. ... The Stars eliminated the Ducks in six games in the opening round of the playoffs last season. ... D Nicklas Grossman had a game-high six hits.

Apr 11, 2:13 am EDT
NHL

21 Comments

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  1. Dan G
    21. Posted by Dan G Sat Nov 7 8:49pm EST

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    Guy F

    i "waffle" lmao. Oh, you and you were spot on about Dallas being a challange to the Wild. DOH!
  2. Guy F
    20. Posted by Guy F Sat Nov 7 7:38pm EST

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    @ Dan G/Get Educated/iwaffle : At least stick with one handle man.
  3. Gino Odjick
    19. Posted by Gino Odjick Sat Nov 7 4:40pm EST

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    The no-goal was just the NHL making up for fking the Stars over vs Calgary, so essentially the Canucks get fked twice (Calgary gains a point, Canucks lose a goal). I don't know about the Stars being better than the Canucks, but last night they were pretty damn good. At thier best, the Stars are better than the Canucks minus Luongo, Sedin, Bernier, Demitra etc. Still, they have impressed this year, and even though the Avs and Yotes will ultimately fall down the standings Stars and Kings will be playoff teams. Brendan Morrow makes a huge difference, because the Stars sucked balls last year
  4. Dan G
    18. Posted by Dan G Sat Nov 7 4:01pm EST

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    Hey guy F

    40 years - 0 cups. Remember that for life.
  5. Joel S
    17. Posted by Joel S Sat Nov 7 1:10pm EST

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    Get real Canucks....There was a penalty committed not called by the refs against Dalas but the no goal call was a good call. Vancouver got putplayed for 40 minutes. Don't use the schedule as an excuse either... Right now Dallas is a better team than Vancouver and probaly 3rd or 4th best in Conference.
  6. <i>leafsfan4life94</i>
    16. Posted by leafsfan4life94 Sat Nov 7 11:34am EST

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    Frickin Schneider was the Canucks in that game.
  7. James P
    15. Posted by James P Sat Nov 7 10:52am EST

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    Great game tonight between two teams fighting hard for the victory. Hopefully more and more fans will be treated to these types of games and we'll see the ratings going up.

    As for the no-goal call, it was the right call. They could've had the goal, had the player simply tapped the puck in, rather than shoving and pushing both the puck and Turco's leg into the goal.

    It was the right call on the ice and the right call up in Toronto's replay room.

    If you want controversy, then go back to the night before when the Stars got called for a delay of game in OT that lead to giving up the 4 on 3 power play losing goal. Even the NHL acknowledged that they had made a mistake.
  8. dropthegloves
    14. Posted by dropthegloves Sat Nov 7 10:51am EST

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    What happened? Luongo-less Canucks lost. With Cory Schneider in net, Vancouver still have enough fire power to win the game. It was close, but Stars have 1 extra goal. Luongo was out since last week. Not good. Avs won 6 straight at home. Kings, Avs, and Coyotes surprise a lot of people. They will make it to the playoffs. I nice to see the Kings beat Penguins at Staples Center on Thu 11/05/09. The have won 7 straight on the road, but the Kings stop them on the 8th game. Kings scored 5 times on Marc-Andre Fleury. Sidney Crosby was held scoreless. He' s got 1 shot and no goal. Kings vs Predators today at 1:00PM Pacific at Staples Center. Anze Kopitar is only 22 years old and the league leader in scoring maybe 1 point behind Alex Ovechin. He scored 2 goal on Thursday. Now he's got 13 goals. Go Kings!
  9. Guy F
    13. Posted by Guy F Sat Nov 7 2:04am EST

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    @ Get Educated/Dan G : Well, will see how these "bums" from Dallas do against the cellar-dwelling Wild tomorrow night. Mind you, you won't be seeing me going over to the recap to comment on it. I don't have a fetish for teams I'm not a fan of. How many ex's have restraining orders against you? Then again, there's a good chance you do not have any ex's.
  10. Nathaniel
    12. Posted by Nathaniel Sat Nov 7 1:59am EST

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    some great saves that game
  11. Dan G
    11. Posted by Dan G Sat Nov 7 1:52am EST

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    I see the casuck fans are crying, only bums lose to dallas.
  12. TracyW
    10. Posted by TracyW Sat Nov 7 1:13am EST

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    Chris it's been 10 years since the Stars won the Cup so I doubt that had anything to do with it.
  13. Zeyaad
    9. Posted by Zeyaad Sat Nov 7 12:28am EST

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    That goal should have counted and vancouver should have won.
  14. Chris C
    8. Posted by Chris C Fri Nov 6 11:44pm EST

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    Homer Refs dominate on the ice of teams that have won Cups. Watch any game from Detroit, Colorado, Dallas, New Jersey, and a pattern emerges. The calls always favour those teams on their home ice.
  15. Art Vandelay
    7. Posted by Art Vandelay Fri Nov 6 11:42pm EST

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    Is it me, or is the Western Conference freakin kick arse!!!! Every team in the Western conference is good. Seriously.
  16. Guy F
    6. Posted by Guy F Fri Nov 6 11:32pm EST

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    Well, Cory did his part (.957 save percentage). The Canucks had too little too late (although, this game should have gone to OT).
    Despite the ref's f-up, it was by NO MEANS a cheap victory for the Stars. They totally dominated the 1st and 2nd. Victoria, B.C's Jamie Benn is looking good as is former Vancouver Giant Mark Fistric.
    Also, no matter who one cheers for, how can you not like Brenden Morrow. That guy has one of the most complete games in the NHL.
  17. <i>mrfridaynight69</i>
    5. Posted by mrfridaynight69 Fri Nov 6 11:30pm EST

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    It's a goal if the game was in Vancouver. The league has to give the home team the advantage. Not as bad as the NBA but it's getting there.
  18. Guy F
    4. Posted by Guy F Fri Nov 6 11:12pm EST

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    The disallowed goal was a complete joke.
    -no whistle
    -no goalie interference
    -Turco never had control, not even close
    -Total f-up by the refs.
    "Intending to blow the whistle"????? Ridiculous. Did you blow it? No. Was the puck clearly over the line? Yes. Was Turco shoved into the net? No. Was the puck still alive? Yes, because Turco never had control and, more importantly, no whistle was blown!

    You were speeding, here's your ticket. Well, I'll be fighting that in court. You see, officer, I was INTENDING on driving the speed limit.
    Homer refs.
  19. Jarryd
    3. Posted by Jarryd Fri Nov 6 9:14pm EST

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    22 save night already well on his way for that
  20. Guy F
    2. Posted by Guy F Fri Nov 6 8:56pm EST

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    Yes, Raycroft has played very well. Unfortunately, Schneider is in net and he hasn't been able to translate his AHL success into NHL success. Further, Dallas threw a ton of shotsat net last game. I'm thinking Cory will have to put up a save percentage of .935+ tonight to get the win.
  21. voice of reason
    1. Posted by voice of reason Fri Nov 6 12:12pm EST

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    Hey the Canucks are a nice surprise. Every win without Luongo in net is a bonus, but more important is that Raycroft has kept up the level of excellence.

    The players are playing as a team.

    It is all good!
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