Stunned Stars
Series loss leaves Dallas to ponder what went wrong
Posted: Saturday June 06, 1998 01:17 AM
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Mike Modano and the Stars were blanked on 26 shots, inlcuding five power play opportunites (AP) |
DETROIT (AP) -- After winning the Presidents' Trophy in the regular
season, the Dallas Stars
came up empty-handed in the post-season.
"It's frustrating when you're this close," Stars forward Pat Verbeek said
after Friday night's 2-0 loss to Detroit eliminated Dallas from the Stanley
Cup playoffs -- just two victories shy of the finals.
The Stars return home as the NHL's latest regular-season champion to
falter in the playoffs. Counting this season, only three times in the last
nine years has a President's Trophy winner even made it to the finals --
and only the 1994 New York
Rangers went on to win the Stanley Cup.
Dallas was on a roll after staying alive with a near-miraculous overtime
win Wednesday night. It left coach Ken Hitchcock saying he felt the Stars,
just 2-17-2 in their previous 20 games at Joe Louis Arena, were "due" to
win in Detroit.
But that feeling lasted just 6:20 into Friday night's game, when Detroit's
Larry Murphy
scored a shorthanded goal. Counting Friday, the Stars were 9-1 throughout
the playoffs when scoring the first goal of a game but just 1-6 when they
didn't.
Murphy came off the bench from a line change to take Darren McCarty's
pass and tuck it past goaltender Ed Belfour. Some felt
the Red Wings had too many men on the ice.
"I don't think that's anything we're going to look back at and say it cost
us the game," Stars defenseman Craig Ludwig said.
"You have to score goals to win games, and we didn't score any."
That was mainly because of Detroit's Chris Osgood. The
same goalie who was Wednesday's goat for allowing Jamie
Langenbrunner's mid-ice shot to deflect past him in the first minute of
overtime was perfect this time, stopping all 26 shots he faced.
"Out of the three series, this is the one we had more offensive
opportunities than any of the other two and Osgood gave them a chance to
win every game," Hitchcock said. "So did Eddie, and that's all you can ask
of a goaltender."
After the shorthanded goal, Belfour was beaten again when Sergei Fedorov's
shot from between the circles bounced off the goalie's leg and into the net
to give Detroit a 2-0 lead in the second period.
That was more than enough insurance for Osgood, who withstood a late-game
barrage from the Stars. His best save was a glove stop of Grant Marshall's
point-blank shot with just over two minutes remaining.
"Everybody's disappointed; no question about it," Dallas forward Derian Hatcher
said. "But there's not a lot you can do about it. We gave it our all. We
talked about that, to go out there and no matter what happens, to keep
trying, and everyone did."
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