Game One: Spotting Them One
After giving their all in a dramatic 1-0 overtime Game Seven
against Phoenix, nobody expected the Blues to be fully rested and
ready to play their conference semifinal series against Dallas.
Add in the fact that Dallas hadn't played in a nine-day period
compared to St. Louis' one-day break, and you were almost certain
the Blues were going to be down 1-0 in the series.
Pat Verbeek and former St. Louis sniper Brett Hull each tallied
their first goals of the post-season as the President's Cup winner
Dallas Starts defeated St. Louis 3-0 to take a one game lead in
their best-of-seven series.
The Blues, who were arguably in the game until Mike Modano scored a
short-handed empty netter late, tried to capitalize on Dallas' rest,
trying to jump on them while they were rusty.
"We thought Dallas was ripe to be beaten but it looks like we're the
ones who got picked off the cherry tree," said Blues coach Joel
Quenneville. "Belfour was very sharp."
Stars goaltender Ed Belfour earned his fifth career playoff shut
out, stopping all 23 of the shots he faced.
Game Two: Spotting Them Another For Good Measure
In Game Two, the Blues showed up and made it competitive.
Unfortunately for St. Louis, so did Joe Nieuwendyk.
Nieuwendyk whipped a shot past Grant Fuhr's glove 8:22 into overtime
to give the Dallas Stars a 5-4 victory and a two- game-to-none lead
in the best-of-seven series.
"[Sergei Zubov] gave me a nice pass and I was able to take it wide
which is something I like to do," Nieuwendyk said. "I hit the
crossbar in the third period in a similar situation. This time it
went straight in."
Nieuwendyk had another puck go straight in the net to give Dallas a
2-1 lead 5:35 into the second. He also gave Jaime Langenbrunner a
hand on his goal, which opened the scoring almost eight minutes
into the game. Pavol Demitra scored twice and added an assist for
St. Louis who had a 4-3 lead after the second period, but lost it
when Jere Lehtinen tallied 4:22 into the third.
"My goals don't matter because we lost," Demitra said. "It was a
very tough game for us to lose but we have plenty of games left. It
was good to finally get some goals against them, and scoring is
what I have to do."
Grant Fuhr lost his second consecutive playoffs decision, stopping
20 of the 25 pucks he officially faced. Ed Belfour picked up
another win, stopping 30 of 34.
Game Three: Enter Demitra
Guess who showed up to the party?
Pavol Demitra, who had been "The Man" up front for the Blues after
Brett Hull split town, finally made himself noticeable. He scored
the Blues game-winning goal just 2:43 into overtime to give St.
Louis a 3-2 victory and pulling the Blues back into the series,
Although Dallas still has a 2-1 lead.
Although Demitra's prefectly happy his goal gave the Blues a win, he
extremely satisfied just to score again.
"Everybody tried to help me and I'm back," Demitra said. "I'm just
happy and I'm enjoying my time on the ice and enjoying my time with
the puck."
Mannheim, Germany, native Jochen Hecht scored his first-ever
National League goal 4:52 into the third to break a 1-1 deadlock- a
deadlock caused by Mike Eastwood's first goal of the playoffs at
2:48 of the second.
Grant Fuhr saved a Pat Verbeek shot from the slot nine minutes into
the final period. He stopped Grant Marshall, too. But he couldn't
stop Darryl Sydor, who sent the game to overtime with his virgin
goal of the post-season.
Fuhr did make a few saves during the game - 16 to be exact. None of
them came in the extra frame since the Blues outshot the Stars 4-0
in overtime. Some guy named Brett Hull scored his second of the
series to open the scoring early into the first.
Game Four: Another Series Deficit Overcome
A 3-1 deficit???? Come on, that's child play!
What about a 2-0 deficit to the league's regular season
champions???? A little more difficult.
Why not call on the same guy who polished off the come back from the
round before?
Pierre Turgeon, whose redirection in overtime of Game Seven
eliminated the once-commanding Phoenix Coyotes from the playoffs,
stole a clearing pass from Sergei Zubov and sent a puck past Ed
Belfour 5:52 into overtime to give the Blues a 3-2 victory, tying
the best-of-seven at 2-2.
"He made a great play getting through when the space was open," said
Scott Young.
The Blues had to win it in overtime because they lost another lead
early in the third. This time around, Jere Lehtinen solved Grant
Fuhr just 40 seconds into the third to knot the goal at two goals
apiece.
Pesty Geoff Courtnall gave the Blues that lead with a power-play
goal 7:41 into the second. 2:39 earlier, Jochen Hecht created a 1-1
tie with his second goal in as many playoff games.
Grant Fuhr stopped 23 of 25 shots for the win, but another shot got
past him with 5:36 to go to give Dallas a 3-2 lead- a lead that
lasted only a minute or two. Video replay judges discovered Jaime
Langenbrunner's skate was is Fuhr's crease, and that's a no-no.
Hey, Big Mac got a point. An assist on Geoff Courtnall's goal gave
him his first point since Game Six of the Phoenix series.
Game Five: Back in "Big D" Where We Started
The textbook on the St. Louis Blues has always said that you need to
score more goals than their offense can.
The Dallas Stars took that rule to heart, especially with the
opportunities presented to them by St. Louis penalties. The Stars
went 2-for-5 on the man-advantage and scored a goal while Jaime
Langenbrunner was sitting in the box to give Dallas a 3-1 victory
and push the Blues back to the brink of elimination.
Langenbrunner, Jere Lehtinen, and Joe Nieuwendyk each scored for the
Stars with Mike Modano adding two helpers. Need a number one star?
Look at Ed Belfour. "The Eagle" completely shut down the Blues in the
final 30 minutes of the game. He stopped 30 of the 31 shots he faced.
Grant Fuhr only faced 16 shots, stopping 13 of them. This means the
Blues outshot Dallas 31-16...and they still lost. That's a problem.
"We generated a lot of chances on Belfour, and came up with some big
stops," defenseman Chris Pronger said. "We just weren't able to get
our hands on loose pucks in front of the net."
Game Six: Elimination Game #4
It was another game that the Blues had to win. This time their luck
ran out in the form of a former teammate.
Skating behind Grant Fuhr's goal, Brett Hull flipped a backhand at
the feet of Grant Fuhr, who was perfectly stationed at the left
post of his goal. Mike Modano slipped through the Blues defense and
started to poke away at the puck at Fuhr's feet.
He poked until he eliminated the St. Louis Blues with his fourth
goal of the postseason.
Dallas won the game 2-1 and gave them the series in six games.
But the elimination of the Notes was thanks, in a large part, to St.
Louis' former No. 16, who had two helpers on the night.
"Brett was really into the game, playing hard," Modano said. "He was
probably hungrier than anybody. He did all the grunt work."
The only Blues goal came from an Al MacInnis slapshot. It was his
first goal since 11:50 of the third period during Game Six of the
Coyotes series.
For the first time since 1995, the Blues were eliminated from the
race for Lord Stanley's Cup by a team that doesn't call the state
of Michigan home. Oh well, maybe Colorado will drop them.
That'd be cool.
