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 Stars' power play lacking punch
Posted: Wednesday June 09, 1999 06:12 PM
By Denise Maloof, CNN/SI DALLAS (CNN/SI) -- By the end of Tuesday's overtime win in Game 1, the Buffalo Sabres probably felt like the Reunion Arena scoreboard video clip that advertised a local rodeo -- except that the Sabres wrestled the steer and won. Peppered by 10 Dallas power plays -- including two in overtime -- Buffalo survived, thanks to Jason Woolley's game winner at 15:30 in OT. The resulting 3-2 win gave the Sabres a 1-0 series lead, and also doubly magnified the Stars' greatest weakness -- the power play. "We said, 'Let's keep playing our game,'" Brett Hull said of Dallas' series-opening mindset. Not what he meant, but exactly what happened. Despite its regular-season prowess, Dallas entered the Stanley Cup round just 10-for-81 on the power play. That's a ghastly 12.3 percent, easily the worst of all 16 playoff teams, and it's guaranteed to nosedive after Tuesday's 1-for-10 performance. And, as if in damning punctuation, Dallas also outshot Buffalo 37-24 in Game 1. "If the next game, we have to get 70 [shots] to score three [goals], we will get 70 to score three," Dallas coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We have to find a way to get it done." After an roughing penalty by Dallas' Sergei Zubov at 6:36 of the first period, Buffalo weathered seven Dallas power plays before finally receiving a reprieve -- Craig Ludwig's hooking penalty at 12:21 of the second period. In fact, the Sabres spent roughly 14 of the first 30 minutes shorthanded, and only the Stars' special-team ineptness shielded Buffalo from a possible blowout. What was Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff thinking? "The conversation I was going to have with the [officials] supervisor afterward," he said. Hull struck on Dallas' first power play, putting the Stars up 1-0 with a goal at10:17 of the first period and Buffalo's Miroslav Satan serving a boarding penalty. Combined with the Sabres' sluggishness, it seemed a harbinger, but as shots mounted and the scoreboard remained static, momentum swung the Sabres' way. "I thought if we could have got that second goal we could have made them open it up a little bit more, but they were able to hang in there and hang in there," Hitchcock said. The Stars didn't get the second goal until 19:11 of the third period, when Jere Lehtinen poked a shot past Buffalo goaltender Dominik Hasek with under a minute remaining. But Lehtinen's score only tied the game, thanks to two third-period Buffalo goals by Stu Barnes and Keith Primeau, respectively. And Hasek stoned Dallas' best attempts in overtime, the first a double-team by Joe Nieuwendyk and Verbeek, and the second a lone assault by Verbeek. "It really comes down to one-on-one battles on the power play," Verbeek said. "And we didn't win them." "We like to do things the hard way," Dallas captain Derian Hatcher said. "We've dropped Game Ones before. We're confident we can come back again."
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