So he did exactly that - for all but the final 7.6 seconds Thursday night.
Turco’s near shutout, backed up by third-period goals from Stu Barnes and Steve Ott, sent the Stars to a 3-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks, giving Dallas that exact same lead in their best-of-seven first-round series.
The Stars can eliminate the reigning Stanley Cup champions in Game 5 in Anaheim tonight. Dallas already is 2-0 in that building in this series.
“We understand the situation,” Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. “We’ve got to give ourselves a chance.”
Anaheim did so by winning Game 3. It dropped the Stars to 1-7 in home playoff games, a big reason why they haven’t won a playoff series since a first-rounder in 2003.
The lone home win in that rut was a shutout by Turco. He almost did it again until Mathieu Schneider slid the puck past him in the waning moments. It was Anaheim’s first third-period goal of the series.
“Tonight I felt really good,” said Turco, who made 28 saves. “I had an opportunity to see all the shots that came my way. There were some anxious, scrambly moments in the second period. But the guys were doing all they could to help me.”
Turco didn’t have too many spectacular stops, but he did have a third-period collision with Teemu Selanne.
Selanne skated stick-first into Turco’s head, then conked the goalie’s helmet with an elbow. Turco fell backward into the net but was back on his skates as Selanne headed to the penalty box.
Turco’s solid play protected an early goal by Joel Lundqvist. Midway through the third period, Barnes scored on a breakaway off a long, terrific feed from Mike Modano to give Turco more breathing room. Then Barnes stole a pass and set up Ott’s goal, making it 3-0 with only 2:43 left.
“Dallas is outplaying us,” Ducks goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere said. “We just haven’t played at the level we need to be successful.”
