Mark Parrish scored a hat-trick on his debut to help the Dallas Stars beat the Anaheim Ducks 5-2 on Friday. Parrish, the former All-Star right wing who was signed by the Stars on Wednesday, wasted little time showing his value as Dallas handed Anaheim its first loss in regulation in 10 contests. Parrish's goal in the second period gave the Stars a 2-0 advantage after Fabian Brunnstrom's opener.
The Ducks' Brendan Morrison answered with his first goal of the season during a scramble in front of the net at the end of the first period to make it 2-1 but Parrish responded with two quick goals in the second period. He chipped a shot past Jean- Sebastien Giguere and scored on an unassisted wrist shot just a few minutes later. Brad Richards made it 5-1 in the third period. Anaheim's Scott Niedermayer capped the scoring in the third period, when he beat Marty Turco.
Turco finished with 28 saves, holding down the explosive Ducks who lead the NHL with 51 goals scored and came into the contest having won eight of their last nine. Giguere recorded nine saves for the Ducks before being replaced by Jonas Hiller after allowing a fourth goal. Parrish scored 30 points in 66 games for the Minnesota Wild last year and was a free agent before being picked up by the Stars who improved to 5-6-2 with the victory.
The game was a rematch of last season's Western Conference first round play-off in which the Stars eliminated the Ducks. Kristian Huselius and Derick Brassard scored in the shoot-out as the Columbus Blue Jackets inflicted a 4-3 defeat on the Montreal Canadiens in NHL action on Saturday. Columbus' rookie goalie Steve Mason stopped both shots he faced in the tiebreaker. It was the first loss for the Canadiens in Ohio since a defeat by the Cleveland Barons in 1977. Montreal had beaten the Blue Jackets in their only two previous trips to face the new franchise.
Meanwhile, Carolina edged Ottawa to give Peter Laviolette the most wins by an American-born coach in NHL history. Joe Corvo scored the winner with 2:40 left, and also had an assist for the Hurricanes, who trailed 1-0 after two periods but scored twice in the final 9 minutes. Laviolette surpassed former Tampa Bay coach John Tortorella with his 240th career victory. In another game, Jason Williams scored his second goal of the game 48 seconds into overtime, giving Atlanta victory over Buffalo. Bryan Little had two goals and an assist for the Thrashers, who won their third straight.
* Reuters
