Day at a glance: A case for the Stars
Posted: Wednesday June 09, 1999 02:21 PM
By Denise Maloof, CNN/SI
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In the Crease
| | Sports Illustrated contributor Pierre McGuire, a former coach of the Hartford Whalers, dissects strategy for
CNNSI.com throughout the Stanley Cup finals.
Buffalo is a team that you love to hate -- quick, young, and very abrasive.
Dallas is a well-oiled veteran team with smarts, determination, and
big-game poise. This series will be filled with quality goaltending,
physical play, and a lot of passion.
Face-offs will play a major role in this series as well. No team in the
league deploys more set face-off plays then the Stars. The reason they are
able to have so many set plays is that they have the most pure face-off men
in the league today. Dallas has won a league-high 55.17% of its face-offs
in the playoffs, with Joe
Nieuwendyk (59.73) and Mike Modano (56.43)
leading the way. Even the Stars' third-best face-off man, Guy Carbonneau (51.28%)
is more effective than Buffalo's No. 1 face-off option, Michael Peca (45.26%).
Intangibles will play a huge role in determining who gets to drink from the
Cup. The slower ice in Dallas should give Buffalo a little welcome relief,
as the Sabres love to play the game in a grinding way. The Stars like to
push people around, especially in front of their own goal. That ought to
make for a lot of interesting confrontations, considering that Buffalo has
a group of players who love to get to where the action is, too.
Buckle up for one heck of a ride. I'll be back Wednesday with observations
about Game 1 and matchups and strategy to watch in Game 2.
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Since we're in the land of six shooters and all things hyperbole, no sense bucking a trend. On Monday, we served up five devil's-advocate reasons why the Buffalo Sabres will win the Stanley Cup. In the second installment of the Day at a Glance, which we'll update throughout the finals, here's five not-so-tongue-in-cheek reasons why the Dallas Stars will triumph:
Also check out Kostya Kennedy's breakdown
of the Stanley Cup final.
Eddie Belfour. No, that's not a misprint. Long maligned for a fragile psyche, Belfour has proven stout in these playoffs. Who's sitting at home reacquainting himself with his lawn mower? Eddie the Eagle, or Patrick the Playoff God? Winning a Cup requires unshakeable nerve, but the 35-year-old Belfour seems to have finally peaked with this defense-first Dallas team. He's ignoring opponents' hoopla, making the required big saves, and if he maintains status quo, the Stars will only continue to draw from his strength.
Defense. Both teams trumpet it; Dallas takes it to extremes. That's why the Stars are battling for a Cup. They're the league's shot-blocking aces, and pack some serious size -- top pair Derian Hatcher and Richard Matvichuck go 6-foot-5 and 6-2, respectively; shot-blocking specialist Craig Ludwig goes 6-3. Add the skill levels of two top lines who'll grub on D, and you have the Game 7 blackout against the Avalanche.
A team whose time has come. Sometimes you have to gulp prune juice before the champagne tastes sweet. Just ask the Detroit Red Wings, whose painful Cup finals sweep by the New Jersey Devils in 1995 and Western Conference finals loss to Colorado in 1996 laid the mental groundwork for back-to-back titles. Buffalo agonized over last season's Eastern Conference finals loss to Washington; look where the Sabres are now. But it's the Stars who most mirror the Red Wings' pre-Cup frustration. The underdog Edmonton Oilers bounced them out of the 1997 Western Conference quarterfinals, and the Red Wings beat them in six games in last year's Western Conference finals -- all despite the Stars having the NHL's best regular-season record.
Roster of Stanley Cuppers. Been there, done that makes a difference. Joe Nieuwendyk won one with Calgary. Mike Keane won one with Montreal and one with Colorado. Then there's general manager Bob Gainey, a former Montreal Canadiens great, who hauled home a few. And that's just the top of the list.
The big guns. If they start firing, look out. Mike Modano and Brett Hull are true-blue sharpshooters with moves. Nieuwendyk, Jamie Langenbrunner and Jere Lehtinen can be snipers; just ask the Avalanche. But Buffalo's in serious trouble if Modano and Hull catch fire.
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Storylines We're Following |
Bad ice
Reunion Arena is a VW bus compared to Buffalo's Cadillac-like Marine Midland Arena. Throw in standard Dallas weather in June -- 90-degree temperatures and 80 percent humidity -- and you're going to skate on the world's largest Slush Puppy. It will likely hinder the speedier Sabres; their adjustment and Dallas' ability to take advantage of it will be crucial, but don't look for Lindy Ruff to blame a loss on the ice. He knows better, and the ice guys -- Reunion Arena's and the NHL's -- don't want an injury or chippy goals on their conscience.
Trash talk
It's dinky at this stage, but all coaches love bulletin-board material, and the Stars' Mike Modano unwittingly served some up over the weekend by implying that the best teams were long-gone from the Eastern Conference playoffs by the time Sabres claimed the Prince of Wales Trophy. During Monday news conferences, several Sabres said they didn't care what anybody said. Modano beat a long verbal retreat. Nobody displayed any public distress. But bet on Ruff including it in a pregame talk.
Goalie matchup
You're sick of it by now, but it's worth repeating: The Stars' Belfour and the Sabres' Hasek were teammates in Chicago, when Belfour was the front man and Hasek was earning respect. Now they face each other with a Cup on the line, and the numbers are very similar. In 17 playoff games, Belfour's goals-against average is 1.77. Hasek's is 1.77 through 13 games. Hasek's save percentage is .938, Belfour's is .927. Who'll crack first?
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| NHL's Three Stars |
| Each day throughout the Stanley Cup finals,
we'll take a look at three key individuals.
Michael Peca. The Sabres' heart and soul away from the net. He must continue his shutdown of opposing stars -- see Toronto's Mats Sundin, et al -- for the Sabres to have a shot at Lord Stanley's Cup.
Miroslav Satan. Buffalo's leading scorer who is also a special-teams force. Like Peca, he needs a superlative series for the Sabres.
Jere Lehtinen. Modano's quiet right wing, and the all-around glue that makes Dallas' top line click. The only thing Lehtinen doesn't have is speed, but he compensates with smart positioning and thing-of-beauty stick work. Modano is fiercely loyal of his long-time partner. After only one season, Hull also sings Lehtinen's praises at the top of his considerable lungs. He's a player.
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| Bandwagon
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Reunion Arena ice |  | Enough already. Shut up and play |
| Alexei Zhitnik |
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Another great tongue-twister name from Buffalo |
| Lindy Ruff's goatee
| | Not quite Pat Riley, but a dashing attempt |
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Reunion Arena
| | Maybe we're spoiled, but at least an exterior paint job would help |
| Ken Hitchcock
| | A Cup win might give him star -- no pun intended -- coaching status |
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Not Your Average Prediction |
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As you may remember, when the Bills made their fourth consecutive trip to
the Super Bowl in 1994 (they lost to Dallas for the second year in a row),
Buffalo fans waving homemade "Deal With It, America" signs were as numerous
as Flutie Flakes. It's time for those signs to rise again.
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