Turco, Stars End Sharks Winning Streak

The injury-riddled Dallas Stars need Marty Turco to play well now more than ever. <br/><br/>Turco stopped 25 shots to earn his 26th career shutout and Dallas beat San Jose 1-0 Monday night to stop the

Tuesday, December 5th 2006, 6:27 am

By: News On 6

The injury-riddled Dallas Stars need Marty Turco to play well now more than ever.

Turco stopped 25 shots to earn his 26th career shutout and Dallas beat San Jose 1-0 Monday night to stop the Sharks' season-high five-game winning streak.

``We have a lot of people nursing injuries,'' Stars coach Dave Tippett said. ``We had a lot of guys who did some good things. We battled and found a way to win.''

Mike Modano scored a power-play goal before leaving with an unspecified lower body injury.

The Stars finished the game minus six injured regulars, including Modano, who did not return after leaving for the locker room in the second period.

Also out for Dallas were left wing Brenden Morrow (groin), forward Eric Lindros (bruised foot), defensemen Trevor Daley (concussion) and Darryl Sydor (arm) and right wing Antti Miettinen (lower body).

In other NHL games, it was: Boston 6, Montreal 5; Phoenix 3, Nashville 2; and Edmonton 4, Vancouver 0.

``We hadn't been playing well and we had a depleted corps, so this was a big confidence builder for all of us,'' Turco said. ``It's all about the wins and giving the team a chance. (The Sharks) are a good team. We couldn't totally shut them down, but we did a good job of limiting their chances.''

With 1:47 left and the Sharks with the extra attacker after pulling goalie Evgeni Nabokov, Turco made a glove save on a close-in shot by Joe Pavelski to preserve his second shutout of the season.

Turco was called for a tripping penalty when he used his stick to take down San Jose's Steve Bernier in front of the net with 47 seconds left, but the Sharks were unable muster a decent scoring chance on the ensuing power play.

Turco also had a pad save on a shot by Jonathan Cheechoo that seemed ticketed for the lower right corner of the net with 6:38 remaining. Officials checked the replay and ruled that the puck stayed under Turco's pad and never crossed the goal line.

``He made a nice save,'' Cheechoo said. ``I don't even think he saw it. He just slid across with two pads and it hit him, but he made a nice save to get over there.''

Modano capitalized on the game's first power play with a one-timer from the right circle at 7:46 of the opening period. The goal was Modano's 10th of the season and 495th of his career. Tippett said Modano will be evaluated on Tuesday.

San Jose turned up the pressure in the final two periods with a 19-8 shots advantage and four power plays, but the visiting Sharks were unable to solve Turco.

``Marty Turco had a great night, five or six huge saves,'' San Jose coach Ron Wilson said. ``We just couldn't finish and a lot of it had to do with him.''

Bruins 6, Canadiens 5

At Montreal, defenseman Brad Stuart scored his second goal of the third period with 1:42 remaining and Boston got its fourth win in five games.

Stuart scored midway through the period to give Boston _ which led 4-1 in the second _ a 5-4 advantage before Sheldon Souray tied it moments later with his team-leading 10th goal on a power play. Stuart restored Boston's lead with his fourth of the season.

Marc Savard had three assists for Boston, which also got goals from Glenn Murray, Marco Sturm, Shean Donovan and Wayne Primeau.

Montreal rookie Guillaume Latendresse opened the scoring midway through the first, and the Canadiens got goals in the second from Michael Ryder, Mike Johnson and Alexander Perezhogin to tie it at 4 late in the middle period.

Boston's Tim Thomas stopped 34 shots, improving to 9-3 in his last 12 starts, all consecutive.

Coyotes 3, Predators 2

At Glendale, Ariz., Patrick Fischer scored with 11:20 remaining to lift Phoenix its fifth straight home victory.

Oleg Saprykin and Yanic Perreault also scored and Mikael Tellqvist earned his first win for the Coyotes, who have won four of five.

Steve Sullivan and Alexander Radulov scored for the Predators, who lost in regulation for just the third time in 23 games (17-3-3) since opening the season with three straight losses.

Oilers 4, Canucks 0

At Vancouver, British Columbia, Daniel Tjarnqvist and Joffrey Lupul scored 34 seconds apart early in the second period and Dwayne Roloson made 36 saves to lead Edmonton past Vancouver.

Shawn Horcoff and Raffi Torres also scored, and Petr Sykora added two assists. Edmonton snapped a three-game losing streak despite playing without two of its top three scoring forwards in Ryan Smyth (broken thumb) and Ales Hemsky (shoulder).