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Star in the making: Brunnstrom leads Dallas into St. Louis

Thu 16th, October 2008

(Sports Network) - In his NHL debut, Fabian Brunnstrom lived up to the hype. The highly-touted Swede will lead his new team into St. Louis, where the Dallas Stars square off with the Blues tonight at Scottrade Center.

The 23-year-old Brunnstrom joined the Stars this offseason after three accomplished seasons in the Swedish Elite League. Dallas, which won a bidding war for his services, is glad he did, as Brunnstrom notched a hat trick in his first game, a 6-4 victory over Nashville on Wednesday that gave the Stars their first victory of the season in three games (1-1-1).

Brunnstrom, who became the third player in the league's history to post three goals in his first game, had been a healthy scratch in Dallas' first two games, but notched a pair of second-period goals before his game-winning tally with 3:25 left in the third period completed his hat trick.

Mike Modano had a pair of goals -- his first two of the season -- and added an assist, while Stephane Robidas also scored. Brad Richards posted two assists and Marty Turco made 15 saves for the Stars.

Jere Lehtinen remains day-to-day with a groin injury and did not play in last night's contest.

Should the Stars elect to go with 33-year-old Marty Turco in back-to-back games tonight, he will face a Blues offense that has scored 12 goals through its first three games. That is the most goals St. Louis has scored in its first three games since notching 16 in the 1994-95 season.

Turco is 9-4-1 with a 1.88 goals against average and one tie in 16 career games versus the Blues, all but one of those starts.

St. Louis' offensive output has it at 2-1-0 on the season. The club notched a shootout tally on Monday, with Brad Boyes posting the winning goal in the extra session of a 5-4 victory.

Boyes also scored in regulation to give him a goal in each of his first three games, while Paul Kariya and Patrik Berglund had a goal and an assist each. Keith Tkachuk scored his fourth power-play marker on the young season, Andy McDonald had his third straight two-assist game and Manny Legace made 35 saves in the win.

Legace has now won his first two starts of the season and is 5-3-1 with two ties and a 1.84 GAA in 14 career tests against the Stars, 11 of those starts.

St. Louis will start a seven-game homestand tonight, a residency that will feature visits from Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Florida, Carolina and Pittsburgh.

Dallas won three of four versus St. Louis last year, but has lost five of its last eight at the Scottrade Center.