|
 |   |
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Multimedia Central Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities Work in Sports
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE |  |
Dallas drops Edmonton Belfour posts 8th playoff shutout as Stars take 2-0 lead
Posted: Monday May 08, 2000 10:36 PM By Mario Annicchiarico, SLAM! Sports DALLAS -- You don't need Chicken Little to figure this one out. The end, it appears, is near. The sky is truly falling, but the Stars aren't. Backed by another strong defensive effort and Mike Modano's obvious passion, the defending Stanley Cup-champion Dallas Stars now bring a 2-0 series lead into Edmonton. Last night's 3-0 Dallas victory has to leave serious questions in the minds of the underdog Oilers, who trail a team that is 10-2 lifetime with such an advantage. The Stars swept the back-to-back starts and take a comfortable lead into Games 3 and 4 Sunday and Tuesday at Skyreach. It's now nine straight playoff victories for the Stars over Edmonton - and counting. Oilers goaltender Tommy Salo is also still looking for win No. 1. Getting him the first goal might help. "Tommy has played unbelievable for us. I'm sure the guys are quite aware of his playoff record and that we want to get a win for him," said Georges Laraque prior to the game. "If you give Tommy a lead you know he can protect it. "That's the thing playing against Dallas, we're starting with one- or two-goal deficits so it is huge, the first goal of the game. "If we get it maybe we get some confidence back and we can build on it instead of waiting for them to create something." Kirk Muller provided the opening goal in Game 2, finishing off a pretty tic-tac-toe from Brett Hull and Modano, who was the best player on the ice for the second straight night. Modano cut across the Oiler blueline and lay a back pass onto Hull's stick, who relayed it to a streaking Muller, whose shot beat Salo up high, off his shoulder 15:33 into the first period. Hull then made it 2-0, pouncing on a loose puck at 17:55 of the second. Former Oiler Scott Thornton upped it to 3-0 on a similar play 6:22 into the third. Stars goaltender Ed Belfour posted his eighth career post-season shutout. Edmonton was limited to just three shots in the first stanza, another four in the second and 10 in the third. Already suffering a severe shortage of offensive firepower, the Oilers also took a number of senseless penalties. Ryan Smyth slew-footing Derian Hatcher and Alex Selivanov first tackling Darryl Sydor, then running Hatcher into the boards from behind in the second period, fall into that category. The Edmonton power play also continued to struggle, going 0-for-4 last night. It's now 0-for-8 in the best-of-seven Western Conference quarter-final series. Coach Kevin Lowe's club is getting no offence from its forwards or defencemen, who usually play a vital role in the attack. "We need our defencemen to be more confident, that's something we addressed," said Lowe beforehand. "They'll be better. We need Janne (Niinimaa) to be better, Potsie (Tom Poti) to be better and Jason Smith to be better." They are running out of time, however. They failed to secure the split on the road and are in a must-win situation heading north. "Of course it's important," said Salo of wanting at least one road win, "but if we lose we still have to go back and win our home games. At the same time we want to win on the road and that's important." At this rate, chances are slim they even make it back to Dallas for a Game 5.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
