Ducks Won’t Be Star Struck

Mighty Duck goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere is rarely out of position, cannily using his instincts to stay square to shooters and anticipate what’s coming at him.

Dallas Star goalie Marty Turco is rarely in his expected position, often wandering out of the crease to play the puck and get the offense going even if that gets his coach’s pulse going too.

“He’s very good at it. That’s a strength of his,” Dallas Coach Dave Tippett said of Turco’s stickhandling. “Obviously, sometimes it gets a little testy, but that’s part of the game and he’s accepted that. He’s a huge asset for our team.”

Turco set a modern record with a 1.72 goals-against average this season and had a 1.83 goals-against average and .918 save percentage in the Stars’ six-game playoff victory over Edmonton in the first round. A University of Michigan alum who likes to warm up to his alma mater’s fight song, Turco probably will pose a more formidable challenge to the Ducks than Detroit’s Curtis Joseph did in Anaheim’s first-round sweep of the defending Stanley Cup champion Red Wings.

The series will begin Thursday and Saturday at Dallas. The NHL hasn’t yet determined the dates of Games 3 and 4 at the Arrowhead Pond.

“It’s an interesting matchup, a fair contrast in styles to Detroit,” Duck General Manager Bryan Murray said Sunday while his team practiced at the Pond. “Mike Modano is certainly the best player we’re going to be playing against. Beyond that, they’ve got Scott Young and Brenden Morrow, who’s a bang-and-crash guy. They’re a team that poses a different problem.”

The Stars are bigger and more physical than the Red Wings and have a potent weapon in defenseman Derian Hatcher, whose thunderous checks can be outweighed by his occasional lack of discipline. Otherwise, Duck Coach Mike Babcock compared Modano to Detroit’s Sergei Fedorov and Dallas defenseman Sergei Zubov to Detroit’s Nicklas Lidstrom -- players the Ducks largely neutralized.

Babcock said he sees the Stars as an opportunity, not a challenge, and isn’t apprehensive about facing the team that led the West with 111 points and ranked in the top five in penalty killing, power play and team defense.

“Worry would be a strong word. I have a lot of concern about personalities,” he said. “I know the fastest I ever ran was when I was 9 years old in the bush and I was running away from a bear. A little fear goes a long way.”

So does solid goaltending, as evidenced by Giguere’s poised play in giving up only six goals in four games to the Red Wings.

“A lot of people on the outside looked at Detroit as so powerful that it didn’t matter who they’d play,” Tippett said. “I give the Ducks full marks for what they did. I was probably a little surprised it ended in four games, but I knew the Ducks had been a very good team, especially the last couple of months with the players they picked up at the trade deadline....

“Anaheim is a team a lot of people overlooked. Obviously, Detroit overlooked them to a certain extent. But that goaltender in Anaheim played awfully well.”

Giguere said he’s prepared for some jostling in front of his net and won’t be lured into retaliation penalties.

“Sure, they’re going to put a lot of traffic in front and bump, and that’s all right,” he said. “For me, it’s not my game [to respond]. I can’t let them get under my skin.”

That’s what the Ducks hope to do against Turco, who spent two seasons as Ed Belfour’s backup and graduated to the starting job when Belfour signed with Toronto as a free agent last summer.

“I’m definitely going to go to the net as much as I can,” winger Steve Thomas said. “Even Edmonton had a lot of guys bump him and he got a little flustered.

“You’ve got to go the net as much as possible. A lot of goals scored this time of year go off skates and legs, more than anything.”

Tippett credited his team for persevering against Edmonton despite injuries that idled Bill Guerin and Pierre Turgeon and took Jason Arnott out of Game 6. Guerin, recovering from thigh surgery, “will be a player” against the Ducks though maybe not in the opener; Turgeon (foot surgery) and Arnott (flu) will be ready Thursday.

“We’ve had a very good feeling about our team all year,” Tippett said.

The Ducks feel confident too, but none was prepared to predict they’ll spring another upset and beat the Stars.

“They’re a talented bunch, a very hard-working team, and they’ve got a lot of skill,” Thomas said. “We’ve got to have a game plan for that. We’re going to go in with our eyes wide open and playing our system the way we’re supposed to play it. We’re going to have a blast.”