Game Recap

DALLAS 2, N.Y. RANGERS 1 NEW YORK (AP) - Eddie Belfour is set to rejoin the Dallas Stars. His quick about-face might be because he saw a youngster ready to steal his job. Marty Turco drew the assignment of filling in for Belfour, the Stars' No. 1 goalie who left the team in a dispute with coach Ken Hitchcock. In his 10th and 11th NHL games Turco stopped all but 1-of-71 shots. Turco stymied the New York Rangers on Monday night, allowing only a third-period goal among 38 shots, as Dallas earned a hard-fought 2-1 victory. "He's taking advantage of it," Hitchcock said of the 25-year-old Turco. "The last four he's played well and it's good to see. We miss Eddie, but we needed to have a performance by Marty to keep us solid and strong in these areas and keep us winning and he did that. Belfour stormed out of a pregame skate Saturday morning in Boston and returned home to Dallas. It was announced after Monday's game that Belfour will join the team Tuesday in Atlanta and meet with Hitchcock and general manager Bob Gainey. "What will happen next is what would have happened if he had not left the team and had sat down and said 'I don't agree with this' or 'Why is this happening?'" Gainey said. Belfour, who leads the NHL with seven shutouts, was suspended by Gainey on Sunday. The Stars have faced the turmoil head-on and won two straight with Turco. In his last five games, Turco stopped 130-of-133 shots. He denied 64 consecutive before Eric Lacroix scored his second goal of the season 5:39 into the third. "The way this team plays is the way it needs to play to win," Turco said. "It was a road game and we needed to play well defensively and guys came back and really worked hard to clear my rebounds." The Rangers, who dominated play throughout, pressed to tie throughout the second half of the third period but couldn't solve Turco again. New York went 0-for-4 on the power play, including a chance in the final four minutes, and has only one man-advantage goal in the last 42 opportunities. New York, the 11th place team in the 15-team Eastern Conference is winless in eight games (0-6-1-1) and has one victory in 13 (1-9-2-1). "Once you get into a slide, everything goes against you," Rangers captain Mark Messier said. "We're in that predicament right now and we're responsible for getting ourselves into it. The same guys are responsible for getting ourselves out of it." Turco was certainly the busier of the two goalies as the Rangers held a 38-18 shots advantage. New York's Mike Richter, however, set the Rangers record for games played by a goalie with his 583rd, topping Gump Worsley. Richter allowed second-period goals to Jere Lehtinen and Shaun Van Allen. Dallas Stars 2, NEW YORK RANGERS 1 1ST 2ND 3RD FINAL --- --- --- ----- Dallas 0 2 0 2 N.Y. Rangers 0 0 1 1 FIRST PERIOD - SCORING: None. PENALTIES: Donato, Dal (boarding), 15:38; Fleury, NY (hooking), 17:23. SECOND PERIOD - SCORING: 1, Dallas, Lehtinen 11 (Keane, Modano), 3:30. 2, Dallas, Van Allen 5 (Keane), 10:39 (sh). PENALTIES: Dvorak, NY (tripping), :28; Purinton, NY, major (fighting), 3:43; Marshall, Dal, major (fighting), 3:43; Helenius, Dal (tripping), 6:01; Hogue, Dal (tripping), 9:03; Fleury, NY (high-sticking), 18:26. THIRD PERIOD - SCORING: 3, New York, Lacroix 2 (Malhotra, Witehall), 5:39. PENALTIES: Van Allen, Dal (hooking), 16:03. SHOTS ON GOAL 1ST 2ND 3RD TOTAL --- --- --- ----- Dallas 4 12 2 18 New York 13 17 8 38 POWER PLAY: Dallas 0 of 3; New York 0 of 4. GOALIES: Dallas, Turco 7-2-0 (38 shots-37 saves). York, Richter 12-17-1 (18-16). Referees: Stephen Walkom, Don Koharski. Linesmen: Tim Nowak, Anthony Sericolo. A: 18,200 (18,200).