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Lucky Stars Dallas survives late rally, heads to N.J. to defend title
Posted: Sunday May 28, 2000 09:24 AM
DALLAS (AP) -- When their three-goal lead was chopped to one, the Dallas Stars focused on what they do best: smothering defense. That return to basics, some great saves by Ed Belfour and a friendly bounce off the right post in the closing seconds gave Dallas a 3-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals Saturday night. "It was an unbelievable series," Stars forward Brett Hull said. "It could have gone either way. I'm just thankful we got kind of lucky at end and held on." The defending champions will open the finals Tuesday night in New Jersey. The Devils overcame a 3-1 deficit to beat Philadelphia in the Eastern Conference finals. Every game in this series was tight until the Stars threatened to make this one a rout. Sergei Zubov and Mike Modano scored on the power play in the first period, then Roman Lyashenko blindly kicked in a rebound early in the second period. Dallas was 10-0 this postseason when taking a lead into the third period, so the only question left seemed to be whether Belfour could hold the shutout. But then Peter Forsberg scored a shorthanded goal 5:25 into the final period. Three minutes later, Milan Hejduk redirected a shot by Ray Bourque past Belfour, reviving the tension that had been missing since the first period.
"We made a game of it," Colorado's Adam Deadmarsh said. The Avs only got three more shots at Belfour before pulling goalie Patrick Roy for a sixth attacker with 1:20 left. They failed to punch it in on a good flurry in front of the net with 21.2 seconds to go, then Bourque fired a shot that hit Belfour and clanged off the right post with eight seconds left. "I tried to get my body over there," Belfour said. "It hit me on the hip and it was like slow motion as it went toward the post." Said Bourque: "I didn't see it, but I heard it hit the post." The Stars knocked the puck to the other end of the ice, triggering a postgame celebration that was filled with as much relief as joy. "There's so much pressure to perform," Modano said. "As you get older, you turn that into a positive and try to have fun with it." This was the second straight year the Stars and Avs have fought to a winner-plays-for-the-Cup finale. Dallas won last year's duel 4-1. This was the third straight year Colorado was eliminated in a seventh game, and the fourth straight time Roy has lost a Game 7. He's allowed 16 goals in those games. "We played good enough in this series to win," forward Dave Andreychuk said. "We didn't get the bounces, especially in this game. It's hard to explain the way the bounces go." The Stars blew a chance to end the series in Game 6, although they knew the 2-1 loss was one of their best performances of the postseason. They seemed to pick up where they left off by scoring on their first two power play chances. Colorado's never overcame that, ending their near-storybook quest to get Bourque the first championship of his 20-year career. He agreed to a trade from Boston in hopes of helping a team make a run at the Cup. His arrival sparked the Avs down the stretch and gave them a rallying point in the playoffs. "I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat," said Bourque, who had a goal and an assist in the Game 6 victory. "We had a good run, but anything short of the finals was not going to be good enough." In the end, the storyline that played out best was the challenge between Belfour and Roy. Belfour said late in the season that he was as good as Roy or better, then backed it up in this series. Although Roy had two shutouts, Belfour never allowed more than two goals in a game and was a steadying influence for his team. Fans cast their ballot by chanting "Ed-die's bet-ter!" in the final period. "I'm not a cocky guy, I never have been," said Belfour, who improved to 4-0 in Game 7s and has won his last eight games following a loss. "But I am confident in my ability." Dallas' early lead was built by taking advantage of Colorado's first two penalties. Zubov started it by beating Roy on a one-timer from the center point just inside the blue line. As the 100th straight sellout at Reunion Arena roared, Roy sat up on his knees and stared ahead in disbelief, then dropped his back to the ice in agony. Colorado's second penalty -- roughing by Andreychuk -- was even more devastating, partly because it was silly but mainly because it gave Dallas a great scoring chance with just 16 seconds left in the period. Modano scored with six seconds left, raised his arms and head to the roof and was met in the corner by all four teammates. The four Avalanche skaters stiffly drifted up the ice several feet apart, while Roy stood motionless in the goal. The hometown horn operator pushed the button so long it seemed to be jammed. Then, five minutes into the second period, Lyashenko scored a weird one. Derian Hatcher drilled a shot from the right point that hit teammate Mike Keane's backside and bounced in off Lyashenko's foot while he was facing away from the net. "The first half of the game, I thought our passion was unbelievable," Stars coach Ken Hitchcock. "Then we got a little sloppy and gave them that first goal. That gave them some momentum and they built on that." Colorado had nothing early. The Avs didn't get a shot on goal on their first two power plays and went 0-for-3 on the night. They failed to score on their final 17 power plays of the series. "We didn't generate enough on the power play and they did. In the playoffs, the special teams come down to those two things and we didn't do a very good job this series," said Colorado center Joe Sakic, who didn't have a goal against Dallas and had only two in the 17 playoff games. Belfour improved to 9-1 in elimination games for the Stars. He also has won 11 of his last 12 playoff games in Reunion Arena dating to last season's finals. He won't get a chance to add to that until Saturday. First, he'll have to go to Continental Airlines Arena for games Tuesday and Thursday. The Stars went 2-0 against the Devils this season, winning 2-1 in overtime at home in November and 3-2 on the road in March.
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