DALLAS – Loui Eriksson scored in the third round of the shootout, goalie Alex Auld was perfect in all three rounds, and the Dallas Stars rallied from a two-goal deficit for a 4-3 victory over the slumping Calgary Flames on Wednesday night.
Eriksson’s backhander beat Miikka Kiprusoff after Dallas’ Mike Modano and Brad Richards failed in the first two rounds.
Auld stopped Jarome Ignila in the third round.
Dallas, 4-7 in shootouts this season, won its fourth straight at home. Calgary is 0-6-2 in its last eight.
Kiprusoff received two slashing penalties in the final minute of overtime to give Dallas a 5-on-3 advantage, but the Stars were unable to cash in, sending the game into the shootout.
Dion Phaneuf and Iginla scored power-play goals during a 23-second span of the first period to energize Calgary’s slumbering offence.
Olli Jokinen added a second-period goal, and Jamie Lundmark had two assists for the Flames, who’d managed two goals or fewer in eight of their previous 10 games.
Modano notched his 553rd career goal at 3:58 of the first period, Modano’s fourth in his last seven games.
But Calgary capitalized twice in rapid succession during a power play resulting from a match penalty to Dallas’ Mark Fistric.
Phaneuf scored from distance at 11:04 to tie it 1-1, and Iginla beat Auld on a backhander from the slot at 11:27.
Fistric was assessed the match penalty in addition to a fighting major after bopping Calgary’s Eric Nystrom on the head with Nystrom’s helmet during a scrap. Fistric dislodged Nystrom’s helmet as the players wrestled, and when Fistric used the helmet as a weapon, the referees slapped Fistric with the match penalty, meaning the power play could continue after Phaneuf’s goal.
Jokinen made it 3-1 at 11:37 of the second period when he shovelled a rebound past Auld.
But James Neal’s deflection gave Dallas momentum, pulling the Stars to 3-2 with 24 seconds left in the second period.
Dallas had 1:25 of a 5-on-3, and Richards tied it 3-3 from the slot at 7:35 of the third period with 18 second remaining in the two-man advantage.
The Stars are 12-2-2 in their last 16 home games, but only 1-9-2 in their last 12 on the road.
NOTES: Fistric will be suspended indefinitely for the match penalty. With Fistric out, the Stars had to go with five defencemen. … Dallas was involved in its league-high 17th overtime game. … Modano has 1,349 career points, tying Mats Sundin for 25th in league history. … Dallas F Brenden Morrow and Jere Lehtinen were back in the lineup after missing the previous four games with upper-body injuries. … C Mikael Backlund was in the Flames’ lineup after being called up from Abbotsford of the AHL on Tuesday. Backlund, a native of Sweden who was Calgary’s first-round draft choice in 2007, made his NHL debut last season. … Auld was making his fourth start in six games in place of slumping regular Marty Turco. … Auld received an assist on Richards’ goal, Auld’s first of the season.
