-----------------------------
Dallas 0 1 0--1
Ottawa 0 2 1--3
-----------------------------
FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: None. Penalties: Morrow, Dal (holding), 4:57;
Langenbrunner, Dal (holding), 6:20; Bonk, Ott (interference), 6:24;
Mceachern, Ott (hooking), 12:10; York, Ott (boarding), 14:06; Jackman, Dal
(high sticking), 14:33; Nieuwendyk, Dal (slashing), 19:49.
SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: 1, Ottawa, Yashin 1 (Mceachern, Hossa), 3:56.
2, Ottawa, Zamuner 1 (V Prospal), 15:14. 3, Dallas, Marshall 1 (power
play) (Nieuwendyk, Sydor), 19:58. Penalties: Zamuner, Ott (elbowing),
5:12; Modano, Dal (Obstr hooking), 11:21; Morrow, Dal (roughing), 16:44;
Alfredsson, Ott (high sticking), 19:22.
THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: 4, Ottawa, Dackell 1 (empty net) (unassisted),
19:21. Penalties: Jackman, Dal (high sticking), 2:38; Morrow, Dal
(slashing), 7:31; Lukowich, Dal (hooking), 10:18; Hnidy, Ott (roughing),
14:01; Modano, Dal (tripping), 13:03; Hossa, Ott (tripping), 13:39.
Shots on goal:
---------------------------------
Dallas 11 6 7--24
Ottawa 4 10 6--20
---------------------------------
Power-play Conversions: Dal - 1 of 7, Ott - 0 of 9. Goalies: Dallas,
Belfour (19 shots, 17 saves; record: 0-1-1). Ottawa, Lalime (24, 23;
record: 1-0-1). A:18,500. Referees: Degrace, Gregson. Linesmen: Murray,
Champoux.
INDIVIDUAL PLAYER STATISTICS
Dallas Ottawa
G A +/- Shots G A +/- Shots
Donato 0 0 even 1 Alfredsson 0 0 +1 1
Hatcher 0 0 -1 3 Arvedson 0 0 +1 0
Hull 0 0 -2 1 Bonk 0 0 +1 1
Jackman 0 0 -1 0 Dackell 1 0 +1 1
Keane 0 0 -1 2 Fisher 0 0 even 0
Langenbrunner 0 0 -2 3 Forbes 0 0 even 3
Lehtinen 0 0 -2 1 Havlat 0 0 even 1
Lukowich 0 0 even 0 Hnidy 0 0 +1 0
Marshall 1 0 even 1 Hossa 0 1 +1 1
Matvichuk 0 0 -1 1 Kravchuk 0 0 +1 2
Modano 0 0 -2 1 Mceachern 0 1 +1 0
Morrow 0 0 even 1 Persson 0 0 +3 1
Muller 0 0 even 1 Phillips 0 0 even 1
Nieuwendyk 0 1 -1 3 Rachunek 0 0 even 0
Sydor 0 1 even 1 V Prospal 0 1 +1 2
T Bouck 0 0 -1 1 Yashin 1 0 +1 4
Van Allen 0 0 even 0 York 0 0 +1 0
Zubov 0 0 -2 3 Zamuner 1 0 +1 2
Helenius Healthy Salo Influenza
Sloan Healthy Oliver Healthy
Lyashenko Healthy Roy Healthy
Sim Shoulder Redden Injured Arm
Game Story
KANATA, Ontario (Ticker) -- It did not take long for Alexei
Yashin to make an impact in his return to the Ottawa Senators.
Booed mercilessly during the preseason and before tonight's
game, Yashin scored 3:56 into the second period as the Senators
defeated the Dallas Stars, 3-1, in their home opener.
Yashin was embroiled in a bitter contract dispute with
management last season, causing the Russian center to sit out
the entire campaign. He grudgingly returned to the team during
training camp after failing in an attempt to become an
unrestricted free agent.
On September 5, an Ontario judge refused to hear his appeal of
an arbitrator's ruling that said Yashin owed Ottawa the final
year of his five-year contract at $3.6 million. Yashin, who had
44 goals and 94 points in 1998-99, said he returned only because
he ran out of legal options.
"Like I said before, I cannot control what the fans do or say,"
Yashin said. "All I can do is concentrate on hockey and play the
best hockey I can play for Ottawa and my teammates."
This marked his first appearance at the Corel Centre in a
meaningful situation since Game Two of the Eastern Conference
Quarterfinals against Buffalo on April 23, 1999.
In Ottawa's season-opening 4-4 tie at Boston on Thursday, Yashin
picked up an assist on Marian Hossa's power-play tally but
finished at minus-2 with one shot in just over 18 1/2 minutes.
Tonight, with his back to the net, Yashin redirected Shawn
McEachern's centering feed past Ed Belfour to get the Senators
on the board.
"He had a stronger game than he did in Boston," Ottawa coach
Jacques Martin said. "He's a highly skilled player who makes us
a better hockey team. That's the bottom line."
Late in the third period, Yashin turned the boos to cheers when
he helped kill a Stars' power play.
"It was unfortunate that Yashin got the boos at the
introductions," Ottawa defenseman Chris Phillips said. "It's
understandable though. But it was especially great that he got
cheers at the end of the game. Hopefully, soon the cheers will
outweigh the boos."
Rob Zamuner deflected Vaclav Prospal's shot over Belfour's right
shoulder to give the Senators a 2-0 lead with 4:46 left in the
second period.
Ottawa's Patrick Lalime lost his shutout bid with two seconds
left in the period on Grant Marshall's power-play tally. The
Senators prevailed despite going 0-for-10 on the power play.
The Stars were 1-for-7 with the man advantage and coach Ken
Hitchcock pointed to missed opportunities. Dallas could not
cash in on seven odd-man rushes in the second period.
"I really don't want to talk about the penalties, but when you
have that many, we should be able to bury them," Hitchcock said.
"We set the tone with seven odd-man rushes and if you don't
capitalize on them, you're not going to win on the road."
The Stars had an excellent chance to tie it with six minutes
remaining, but Lalime made a spectacular sliding kick save on
Sergei Zubov's shot from the high slot.
"It's one of those times where you have to come up big," Lalime
said. "I was able to get my pad on it. I was lucky to keep it
at 2-1. All the credit should go to the guys in this room."
Andreas Dackell added an empty-net goal for the Senators with 39
seconds to play in the third period.
"We had a great effort tonight," Martin said. "We have injuries
on the back end, but we were successful tonight. Some credit
goes to our forwards. This year, we're using our speed even
more at both ends. That speed helped out our defense a lot
tonight."