DALLAS -- Andy Moog stopped 24 shots and former Canuck Greg Adams scored the winning goal late in the second period as the Dallas Stars held on for a rare home win, 2-1 over slumping Vancouver on Friday night.
Moog faced only five shots in the third period and got lucky with just over eight minutes remaining. Vancouver's Pavel Bure broke in alone off an outlet pass from Esa Tikkanen, but he was bothered by diving defenseman Sergei Zubov and wasn't able to get off a shot until he was just past the net.
"Bure's very patient with the puck," Moog observed. "But in this instance, he hurt himself and took away the scoring angle. I knew I had to be patient and wait for him to do something."
"When we're pressing, things like that happen," said Canucks coach Tom Renney. "It's just something that guys have to battle through right now."
Richard Matvichuk had the other goal for Dallas, which won for just the third time in its last 10 home games.
"The players kept the enthusiasm and the energy level up. As a group, I was really happy with our guys tonight," said Stars coach Ken Hitchcock. "We worked real hard and battled real hard. That resulted in creating a lot of turnovers off our forecheck. We couldn't finish our odd-man rushes, but overall I was very pleased with our game at either end. Some of the guys that are taken for granted, like Benoit Hogue and Brent Gilchrist, really played a solid game."
Rookie Lonny Bohonos scored his first NHL goal for the Canucks, who have lost three straight and are winless in six of their last seven games.
Adams broke a 1-1 deadlock with 5:23 to go in the middle period. Jere Lehtinen passed the puck from behind the net into the low slot, where Adams flipped a wrist shot that beat goaltender Corey Hirsch just inside the left goal post.
Matvichuk opened the scoring at 5:21 of the second period. Guy Carbonneau won a faceoff in the Canucks' zone and sent the puck back to Matvichuk, whose slap shot from the top of the left circle trickled through Hirsch's pads. It was Matvichuk's second goal of the season and second in as many games.
Bohonos tied it just under eight minutes later, stuffing a wraparound past Moog from the left goal post. Mike Ridley picked up his 450th career assist on the goal.
Craig Ludwig's assist on Adams' tally was the 200th point of his career.
"We played three periods tonight and that was the difference from the other night," Moog said, referring to Wednesday's 5-5 tie with St. Louis. "The other night we got into a hole individually and collectively. We were in a good frame of mind tonight. We're playing a consistent game right now and need to keep it up on the road trip."
Jon's 3 stars:
1. Andy Moog
2. Pavel Bure
3. Greg Adams
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