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Oil spill Oilers armed with momentum for Game 4 with Dallas
Posted: Monday April 17, 2000 09:52 PM
EDMONTON (AP) -- Armed with their first victory of the NHL playoffs, the Edmonton Oilers now must prove their emotional 5-2 win over the Dallas Stars in Game 3 of their best-of-7 series was no fluke. "Momentum changes very quickly in a series," Oilers captain Doug Weight said after practice Monday. "(But) we're still in a hole here. We're approaching game Game 4 like it was Game 7." Weight led the Oilers with three goals Sunday to cut the Stars lead in the Western Conference quarterfinals to 2-1. Game 4 is set for Tuesday night in Edmonton with the teams moving back to Dallas for Game 5 on Friday night. The win snapped Edmonton's nine-game playoff losing streak against Dallas, which has dominated the Oilers since being knocked out of the first round of the 1997 playoffs by Edmonton. The Oilers turned it on Sunday night. Edmonton forward Ryan Smyth said the Stars were the same in Game 3 as they had been in the first two games of the series. "It was us who changed, I thought," he said. "We wanted it more." Stars coach Ken Hitchcock agreed: "We got beat to all the loose pucks. As we did to them in the first and second games, they did it right back to us in Game 3." "We were really outplayed and outhandled last night," said Mike Modano of the Stars. "I think we all take it personally [but] we've been [in similar situations] before and been able to respond.' Edmonton dominated Dallas in every aspect of the game, knocking the Stars off the puck and bombarding Stars goalie Ed Belfour with 38 shots after just a combined 31 in the first two games. The Oilers scored twice on power plays against Dallas' top-ranked penalty-killing unit after going 0-for-8 with two shots in the first two games. Edmonton even scored while short handed. Now, the question is whether they can do it again against the defending Stanley Cup champions. "(The Stars) are going to come out hard and we're going to have to play even harder than we did last game to match them," said Edmonton tough guy Georges Laraque.
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