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A Star is born Rookie scores winner for Dallas
Posted: Monday May 08, 2000 10:43 PM By Mario Annicchiarico, SLAM! Sports
A tight, defensive game featuring playoff rivals Dallas and Edmonton with the Stars coming out on top of a one-goal game. It's a script you can almost write every single time these two teams collide, especially in the National Hockey League postseason. It's also a matchup where the likes of Derian Hatcher and Richard Matvichuk shine. HATCHER GLITTERED Hatcher, in particular, glittered on the Stars' blue line last night in a 2-1 victory that gives the Stars a 1-0 series advantage over the Oilers. "It's been our motto, to win tight games and tonight was the same," said Dallas rearguard Darryl Sydor, who ironically was the culprit of a giveaway that led to the lone Oiler goal. "We wanted to keep the shots down, play good defensive hockey and keep the puck out of our zone." It was textbook Dallas hockey in a physical affair in which captain Hatcher set the tone with a solid lickin' laid on German Titov just 4:20 in. "It's playoffs, you know," said Hatcher. "A guy has his head down along the boards he's probably going to get hit and that's what it was. "We knew it was going to be a physical game and I don't know if it set the tone or not." It certainly accomplished that and then the Stars allowed just five, six and three shots against in each of the three respective periods in a game where they virtually manhandled the competition. "I think that was one of the best games we've ever played against Edmonton. We created scoring chances, we moved the puck properly. I think the only time we got ourselves in trouble was when we made the individual errors," said Stars head coach Ken Hitchcock. "Their first goal, we made an error on. We gave them two scoring chances in the second but I thought for the most part we played a very sound hockey game." The Stars forecheck caused nothing but grief in the Oilers zone and Dallas goaltender Ed Belfour stopped everything he saw. He was screened by Sydor on Titov's goal that tied it 7:00 into the third as he spun and fired on the period's first shot on goal. "Just a bad read by me," said Sydor of the giveaway. "I threw it into the middle. We have to try and keep it on the outside and not make those mental mistakes." But, for the most part, the errors were few and far between, especially with Matvichuk and Hatcher on the ice. "What did they play, 55 minutes?" joked Hitchcock of the pairing. "They played a lot of minutes." It was 33:30 for Hatcher and 31:07 for Matvichuk, who were constantly around when Doug Weight took to the ice. "I think we were just aware of where we were on the ice and with the puck," said Mike Modano, who had six shots and a great chance to ice it with an empty netter that sailed wide. "We were really patient and confident in our abilities." REPEAT THE FEAT? The perfect start for a team looking to repeat a league championship. "It felt really good to play a game that was worth a lot," said Hitchcock. "I think our players echoed that, too. "Having the excitement in the building and the excitement of the consequences made for a really good evening, as far as focus and concentration, and I think it felt good with our players to play a game with a real high level of importance." A defensive dream by these Starry-eyed Stars.
"I told someone before the game, we have to get back to being prepared to win 2-1, 1-0 or 3-2," said Hatcher. "Tonight we did a great job of that."
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