panoo

There's no more pressure on him than 15 other goalies
Tony Gallagher, The Province
Published: Tuesday, April 10, 2007

There are many who believe Marty Turco will have a Dan Cloutier sized piano on his back when this tight series with the Canucks begins Wednesday, but if that's the case, it seems he'll have to be convinced.

The Dallas Stars' outstanding goaltender -- who has been a teammate of Roberto Luongo on Team Canada along with Martin Brodeur -- is coming off a less-than-satisfactory playoff experience last year when he gave up a couple of questionable goals in key situations against Colorado. But, to be reasonable, three of those game winners came in overtime in games that could have been won by either team. Turco has put that less-than-memorable time behind him and put together yet another excellent regular season, so as to try to erase whatever stigma people might be attaching to his performance.

On the phone Monday from Dallas, the 31-year-old native of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., was very frank about the goaltending matchup in this series, a battle between two defensively conscious teams that is expected to be ridiculously close, with every goal having huge significance.

"There's going to be pressure on every player, and specifically all 16 goaltenders in the playoffs, and I don't have any more pressure on me than I put on myself," said Turco, one of the most approachable people in the game.

"I've certainly learned from the past, and to me, there is real excitement at giving this team a chance to take another run at it. We've been battling all year through a lot of injuries and we're back with another good team and shot at it, and as I said, the only pressure is coming from me."

Given the possible dodgy health of the Stars with the apparent injury to Eric Lindros, and maybe even Jere Lehtinen who missed the last game of the year, Turco actually laughed when asked about the present situation.

"There are probably more bumps and bruises than I'm aware of, but we've had so many guys out this year, hey, we're healthy. This is pretty much as good as it's been all year."

Knowing his buddy Luongo was about to embark on his first playoff experience, Turco remembered his own first postseason series.

"I remember that it was really a lot of fun because it was against Edmonton," he said. "Over the years we had played them so many times and there was quite the rivalry, and that year I had missed something like 16 games with the high ankle sprain, so being there was great.

"There's no question, playing in Canada is a different animal -- it adds to the excitement with the fans enjoying themselves. I'm sure Roberto is raring to get going because I know he's been looking forward to this opportunity for a while now."

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