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Oil spill Dallas ends Edmonton's season for third straight year
Posted: Monday May 08, 2000 09:49 PM
By Robert Tychkowski, SLAM! Sports DALLAS -- They were hoping for a sixth game. Instead, the only person who can see the Edmonton Oilers now is the kid from The Sixth Sense. Edmonton's playoff hopes died on the soft ice at Reunion Arena last night when their desperate bid to stave off elimination fell agonizingly short. Brett Hull scored with 5:02 left in the third period to send the underdogs into the summer and lift the Dallas Stars to a 3-2 victory and a 4-1 win in the series. POWER AND POISE The Oilers fought until the bitter end, coming back from one-goal deficits twice in the game, but in the end the defending Stanley Cup champions had too much power and poise. As desperate as Edmonton was to fend off elimination, the Stars were just as desperate to avoid a Game 6 in the Zooreach Centre.
It was Edmonton's 10th straight loss at Reunion Arena and the third time in three seasons that the Oilers have been eliminated by Dallas in the first round. The Stars are 12-2 in the three series. Unlike Game 3, when the Oilers grabbed the momentum by the throat for three periods, or Game 4, when the Stars held Edmonton to just two shots in the third period, neither side could wrestle away control of the game. It was dead even for most of the game; back-and-forth hockey that could have really gone either way. It was 0-0 after 20 minutes, 2-1 Dallas after 40. The Stars wanted to come out and stake themselves an early lead in the first period, and they had every chance to do just that. But their inability to generate anything on the power play (they were a paltry 1-for-20, with one shorthanded goal against, in the first four games), kept them off the board. They blew four chances in the first period. Goalie Tommy Salo took a delay of game penalty in the opening minutes, and Sean Brown took a high-sticking minor followed by a double minor for high sticking as soon as he got out of the box. But the Stars couldn't make Edmonton pay. Despite playing shorthanded for six minutes and change, Edmonton had the better chances through 20 minutes. Doug Weight and Ryan Smyth just missed on a two-on-one and Bill Guerin almost made it 1-0 when he stormed in alone on Ed Belfour, but Belfour made a nice stick save on the deke. Eventually Edmonton's parade to the penalty box caught up with them. When Guerin and Weight took minors less than a minute apart early in the second period, Dallas finally broke the ice. They converted a five-on-three advantage (a five-on-two, actually, because Jason Smith lost his stick) on a tic-tac-toe from Mike Modano to Joe Nieuwendyk to Jamie Langenbrunner in the slot. The power-play goal snapped an 0-13 skid. More importantly, it gave Dallas the home-ice lead they are so good at protecting. BACK SPASMS Weight left the game with back spasms 12:27 into the second period. On the next shift Edmonton tied it. Todd Marchant, in his first game back since being injured by a Derian Hatcher hit in Game 2, made it 1-1 when he banged in his own rebound past Belfour. The joy on Edmonton's bench didn't last very long, however. Dallas went back in front just 87 seconds later when Hatcher's soft wrist shot found its way through Salo's five-hole. Down 2-1 after two periods, the Oilers were 20 minutes away from elimination. Jim Dowd's tying goal 1:07 into the third period, banked from behind the net off Hatcher's skate and in, gave Edmonton renewed hope ... until Hull spoiled the party.
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