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 Canucks' Taylor Pyatt (9) celebrates his Game 3 overtime goal with Bryan Smolinski (21) against the Stars in Dallas on Sunday. (AP/LM Otero) |
DALLAS -- Marty Turco and the Dallas Stars can't win for losing. At home. Or in overtime.
And Taylor Pyatt, the Vancouver Canuck who was demoted from the first line to the third line in Game 3 here last night, can't lose for winning.
Pyatt scored the winning goal -- his first ever Stanley Cup playoff goal -- on a shot from the top of the circle which beat Turco to the short side at 7:37 of overtime here last night to give Vancouver Canucks a 2-1 win and a 2-1 series lead.
It was the Stars fifth consecutive loss in the playoffs at home. And Dallas now has but one win to show for their last 10 playoff games -- Turco one for his last nine.
Three years. Three days. And counting.
That's how long it's been since the Stars last won a Stanley Cup playoff game at home . April 12, 2004. That was the last time they'd won one here. The Stars lost all three at home last year and the last game in going out in five games the previous hockey season as well. In a dozen home playoff games since they moved out of Reunion Arena and into American Airlines Arena the Stars are 4-8.
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"What do you say. It found it's way," said Turco of the shot by the Thunder Bay, Ont., native.
"It seemed like it was coming a little tighter to me. But it doesn't matter now, it's in the net."
Pyatt didn't feel that goal coming, but he felt the Canucks coming.
"I think we kind of felt at the end of the first period that momentum started to swing our way and we came out and had a real good period. We were able to carry it on to overtime.
"It definitely feels good. The first-ever playoff goal and to be able to get it in overtime as a winner is definitely a nice feeling."
Coach Alain Vigneault said it's happened before.
"He started with the twins but it's not the first time he scored an important goal for us after we switched lines," he said.
After 2-1, 2-1, 2-1 and 2-1 games in the regular season, they finally played a 2-1 game in the playoffs.
While these two teams stunned the hockey world with eight goals in regulation in Game 1, they've been the same two teams which played four 2-1 games in the regular season since.
Between the last goal in regulation and Henrik Sedin's overtime winner late in the fourth overtime in Game 1, 85 minutes and 10 seconds transpired between goals.
And between Joel Lundqvist's goal to give the Stars a 2-0 lead which held at 0:24 of the second period, they went another 72:24 until Stu Barnes tipped a Stephane Robidas pass with Alex Burrows in the penalty box serving a needless holding the stick penalty for Vancouver to give the Canucks a 1-0 lead in this one.
Turco, who took a lot of heat going into this series for his record of 4-13 in the playoffs since winning a six-game series against the Edmonton Oilers in his post-season debut in 2003, went 105:18 seconds between goals against until Jan Bulis managed to stuff one under his leg on a rebound of a Jannik Hansen shot early in the third period to tie the game.
Ironically, the Canucks didn't really begin to come on until coach Alain Vigneault moved Pyatt off the first line with the Sundin twins and replaced him with Markus Nasund.
But it was Pyatt who became the Stanley Cup playoff hero.
Due to an afternoon NBA basketball game between the San Antonio Spurs and the Dallas Mavericks, the game wasn't scheduled to start until 8:30 p.m. The basketball game ended at 4:59 p.m. and the crew set an arena record of 1:35 to turn the building over to hockey and the puck was dropped at 8:41 p.m. As expected, however, it was bad ice, particularly in the back half of periods.
Game 4 is set here for Tuesday with Game 5 of the series back in Vancouver Thursday.