Print

DALLAS (AP) -- The Dallas Stars are still trying to score consistently. The way goaltender Marty Turco is playing right now, the Stars don't need much offense.

Turco stopped 23 shots and Brenden Morrow scored a power-play goal in the first period for the Stars, who beat the Nashville Predators 2-1 on Friday night.

Turco has allowed one goal or less in seven straight starts, the best stretch in club history. He is the first NHL goalie to give up one goal or less in seven consecutive starts since John Vanbiesbrouck did it in eight consecutive starts for the New York Rangers from Feb. 23-April 16, 1992.

"Marty gave us another rock-solid game," Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "When the goaltender is on top of his game, all the other things fall into place."

Jason Arnott added a goal in the second period to help Dallas win its third straight game and improve to 5-1-1 in its last seven.

Dallas' offense continues to struggle, with two goals or less in five of the last seven games. But Turco, who opened the season with a 6-8-3 record and a 2.61 goals-against average, has a 0.82 GAA over his last 439 minutes, 17 seconds.

"At the beginning of the season, some things didn't go our way," Turco said. "The guys have been really good in front of me and it's certainly been a great team effort."

Dallas evened its record (16-16-4) for the first time since Nov. 30.

The Stars completed their four-game season series against the Predators 3-0-1.

Dan Hamhuis scored in the third period and Tomas Vokoun made 15 saves for the Predators, 1-3-3-2 in their last nine games.

Nashville held a 9-1 edge in shots in the third period but couldn't get the tying goal past Turco.

"When Turco is tracking the puck like that, that's when he's pretty good," Predators coach Barry Trotz said. "Dallas is playing much better than they were earlier. There's a better team commitment. They've got a lot of star power."

Morrow scored his eighth of the season on a rebound of Scott Young's shot at 12:05 of the opening period.

Arnott made it 2-0 at 4:57 of the second period, backhanding the puck through Vokoun's pads for his ninth of the season.

Nashville cut the deficit to 2-1 with 13:13 remaining when Hamhuis knocked in a loose puck after Turco failed to maintain control on a glove save.

Dallas blanked Nashville on all seven power plays, giving the Stars 35 straight penalty kills.

"Our power play has got to be a lot more productive," Vokoun said. "And we're playing good teams right now. We've got to score more than we're scoring right now."