The Carolina Hurricanes earned a tough point in Dallas on Friday night as they battled the Stars to a 1-1 tie, then lost in a shootout.
Both teams only took five shots on goal in what seemed like a slow moving first period, but the teams picked up the action the rest of the game. The Stars jumped out to a 1-0 lead on an open shot by James Neal about midway through the first. Ian White was the closest Cane, but he couldn't get over in time as Neal had too much time and space to get off his shot against Cam Ward.
The Canes tied the score up midway through the second when Troy Bodie made a nice pass to Jiri Tlusty, who found an open spot between the circles. Tlusty whistled in a nicely placed shot to give him a goal in each of the last two games. It was Bodie's first point as a Hurricane.
Neither team could break through the rest of the way, although the Stars had a couple of grade A chances in the extra period.
Brad Richards scored the only shootout goal as Cam Ward stopped Loui Eriksson and Mike Ribeiro, while Jussi Jokinen, Jeff Skinner, and Eric Staal each failed to light the lamp with their chances.
The Canes flew to St. Louis immediately after the game to prepare for the second game of another back-to-back contest on Saturday night.
Quick Thoughts and Stats:
- After the shots were tied, (5-5) in the first period, the Canes were out-shot in each period after that. The Stars held a 29-23 advantage at the end of the game.
- Once again, Paul Maurice mixed the lines liberally in this contest. There was no explanation given post game for the reason why.
- The Hurricanes played a pretty physical game and out-hit the home team, 33-31. Tim Gleason and Jay Harrison led the way with four each. Erik Cole was only credited with one, but it seemed like he had more than that.
- Faceoff percentage ended up at 50% for each team. Staal had a decent night with a 53% winning ratio.
- Joni Pitkanen led the team with four shots on goal and had 30:44 of ice time.