Sports Connection
Connecting you to your favorite North Texas sports teams as well as sports news around the globe.
No. 1 star: Mike Ribeiro, Dallas Stars
With all the pucks filling the Stars' net of late, it was about time Dallas started putting a few in the other goal. Mike Ribeiro took care of that Thursday night. The veteran center, who had a breakout season last year, figured in the scoring on all five Dallas goals with four assists and a goal during a 5-3 win over the host New York Islanders. Three of Ribeiro's assists were of the primary variety, all coming in the Stars' three-goal opening period. After contributing the second helper on Goal No. 4, Ribeiro got into the act of being the last to touch the puck with his first of the year on the power play late in the second to turn the game into a rout. Ribeiro was a plus-3 with three shots and won 10 of 18 draws during a most productive 22:10 of ice time.
No. 2 star: Jarome Iginla, Calgary Flames
It was a hat trick night for the Calgary captain as the Flames staked the host Predators to a three-goal lead before ripping off the final five of the contest. Iginla scored at 14:04 of the second period to start the comeback. He added the next one at 6:52 of the third, and after the visitors tied the game and took the lead, he stuffed an empty net with a backhander with his third of the night and fifth of the season. Three was the magic number for Iginla, who was a plus-3 with three shots and went 3-for-3 in faceoffs during 21:52 of ice time.
No. 3 star: Derek Roy, Buffalo Sabres
The fifth-year forward was the hero in overtime, not a surprising time for the game to end considering neither the Sabres or opposing Wild have lost in regulation this season. Roy scored the winner, his first goal of the season, 44 seconds into sudden death to cap Buffalo's rally from a two-goal deficit. Roy had an assist, too, in regulation along with two other shots before the winner, three takeaways and a sub-par 7-12 showing in the faceoff circle during 23:41 of ice time.
Honorable mention: Bruins second-year forward Milan Lucic delivered the biggest hit of the early season by cleanly and legally drilling Toronto defenseman Mike Van Ryn into the sideboards so hard that the Plexiglas panel above shattered in a trillion pieces. ... Stars defenseman Philippe Boucher did score a goal or add an assist, but he had a strong game statistically with five shots, seven blocks, three hits, two takeaways during 24:43 on the ice and four minutes in the box. ... Colorado's Ian Laperriere checks in with a Gordie Howe hat trick (tying goal, assist on goal No. 3 and a fight with Edmonton tough guy Zack Stortini. ... Healthy again, Boston's Patrice Bergeron scored his first goal in more than a year (last one came on Oct. 13, 2007). ... How's about Carolina rookie Brandon Sutter scoring his first career goal, making it a record nine related Sutters to have scored in the NHL.
Dishonorable mention: Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury did his best Scott Norwood impersonation -- wide left! -- while shooting toward Carolina's empty net. ... Speaking of the Hurricanes, time to practice that extra-attacker thing. Seconds after dodging the Fleury bullet, they allowed an easy empty-netter to Evgeni Malkin. ... Washington's John Erskine signs a two-year contract extension during the day, pulls up lame come gametime and forces the Capitals to move Sergei Fedorov on the blue line to fill out the injury-depleted defense corp. ... How sad is this? Offering a ticket deal Thursday -- buy-one, get-one free -- the Islanders draw far less than the embarrassingly small announced crowd of 10,183.
