THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DALLAS — The Dallas Stars saw their season-high five-game winning streak end in Colorado. A day later, they took it out their frustrations on the New York Rangers by scoring their most goals since the franchise moved from Minnesota in 1993.
Mike Ribeiro and James Neal each scored twice to help the Stars rout the stumbling New York Rangers 10-2 on Friday night.
The Stars, coming off a 3-2 loss to the Avalanche on Thursday night, grabbed a 3-1 first-period lead behind a 17-8 shots advantage and never let up. Dallas is 10-1-1 in its last 12 at home.
Brian Sutherby, Brad Richards, Jere Lehtinen, Fabian Brunnstrom, Steve Ott and Darryl Sydor also scored for the Stars, 9-3-2 in their last 14 games.
"We got mad at the way we played last night," Sydor said. "We didn’t have it. We got away from our system. Tonight our scorers scored and even our checkers scored."
The Stars’ franchise hadn’t reached double-digit goals since Nov. 28, 1992, when the Minnesota North Stars beat San Jose 10-3. The North Stars set the franchise record in a 15-2 victory over Winnipeg on Nov. 11, 1981.
Nikolai Zherdev had both goals for the Rangers, 0-3-1 in their last four games. The Rangers have scored two goals or fewer in 11 of their last 18 games.
The Rangers hadn’t allowed double-figure goals since a 10-4 loss to Pittsburgh on April 9, 1993.
"This is a big loss, there’s no question about that," Rangers coach Tom Renney said. "But you know what, 3-2 or 10-2, a loss is a loss. The one thing we can’t do is hide behind a low-scoring game. This time around, we got pounded."
The Rangers opened the scoring at 3:35 of the opening period when Zherdev banked a shot off the back of goalie Marty Turco’s pads on a wraparound.
Dallas needed only 35 seconds to tie when a poor Rangers clearance caromed off the end boards to Sutherby, who capitalized from in front of the net.
The Stars took a 2-1 lead at 14:24 of the first period, with Ribeiro knocking a power-play rebound past Steve Valiquette.
Dallas made it 3-1 with 1:02 left in the opening period when Richards’ centring pass went in off Rangers defenceman Erik Reitz.
Zherdev pulled the Rangers to 3-2 on the power play at 3:15 of the second period, again banking the puck off Turco’s pads.
Ribeiro extended Dallas’ lead to 4-2 with 1:45 left in the second period, notching his 13th of the season from low in the right circle. That proved to be the knockout blow for the Stars.
"We didn’t show up last night," Ribeiro said. "It’s good to see when you have a bad game that you can bounce back. Everybody chipped in and it was a team effort. It’s good for everyone’s confidence."
Neal had a two-goal third period, with Lehtinen, Brunnstrom, Ott and Sydor also scoring in the final period.
"You can’t be more disappointed than what happened tonight," Renney said.
With the clock winding down, the Stars had what amounted to target practice on Valiquette, scoring on six of nine shots in the final period.
Asked if the Rangers had hit rock-bottom, New York’s Scott Gomez said, "No one’s giving up and no one’s saying it’s rock bottom. Embarrassed is a strong word but that’s where we are."
Notes: Gomez was benched in the third period. … Valiquette started in place of Henrik Lundqvist, bothered by the flu. Lundqvist was active for the fourth time in a game against his identical twin brother, Joel, a Stars winger. … The Rangers were playing in Dallas for the first time since Dec. 14, 2006, a 5-2 New York victory. The Stars beat the Rangers 2-1 in their last meeting on Oct. 20, 2008, at Madison Square Garden. … Ott and Lehtinen extended their career-best points streaks to seven games. … U.S. Olympic gymnastics gold medallist Nastia Liukin, who lives in the Dallas suburbs, dropped the puck for the ceremonial opening faceoff. … Brunnstrom returned after missing 16 games with the flu and a groin injury. … Rangers D Paul Mara was out with the flu. He was replaced by rookie Corey Potter.
