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Stars Stretch Series to Seven by Michael Dell, Editor-in-Chief The Dallas Stars went into McNichols Arena Tuesday night and defeated the Colorado Avalanche 4-1, evening the Western Conference Finals at three games apiece and setting the stage for a dramatic Game Seven at Reunion Arena on Friday night. Jamie Langenbrunner was the offensive star for Dallas, connecting for two third-period goals that broke a 1-1 tie and lifted his team to victory. Jere Lehtinen and Richard Matvichuk had the other goals for Dallas, while Claude Lemieux did the honors for Colorado.
"I think you've just got two great hockey teams," said Dallas coach Ken Hitchcock following the game. "You've got two wonderful hockey teams who are giving everything they've got to try to get to the dance. I feel that neither team will leave anything in the bag. I'm sure they feel confident playing on the road because they beat us twice in our own building. We feel good because we get an extra days rest which will really help us. We feel like we've played well in our building all year. I just think you've got two great hockey teams going at it. I just think it's going to be a great game again. I don't see any reason to think that it won't be as well played as the other six have been." Colorado was clearly the better team in the first period of Game Six. The Avalanche forced the Stars into an up-tempo style of play that was very reminiscent of the Game Five shootout. Both clubs exchanged scoring chances at will, with Patrick Roy denying Mike Keane and Mike Modano on two separate occasions in tight. Colorado's pressure was more sustained, stringing together several flurries of action around the Dallas cage in large part due to the fearless gambling of Sandis Ozolinsh. The Latvian blueliner spent most of the first period below the hash marks in the offensive zone, just missing wide from in front on a power play and then later ringing a slap shot off the left post. The Avalanche eventually broke through at 19:25 of the first period when Claude Lemieux redirected an Adam Foote point shot between Ed Belfour's pads for a 1-0 lead. Peter Forsberg made the play by outmuscling Richard Matvichuk along the right wing boards and pushing the puck back to Foote at the right point. Foote's slapper appeared to be going wide of the left post, but Lemieux, who was skating left to right in front to create a screen, somehow managed to reach behind and flag the puck down, deflecting it through the five-hole of a helpless Belfour.
Usually late goals like that will kill a team. But there's one sure way to recover: score early in the next period. And that's precisely what the Stars did. The play was very similar to the one that produced Lemieux's goal. Except this time it was Mike Modano who worked the right wing and slid the puck back to Sergei Zubov at the right point. The slick Russian hammered a shot over a sliding defender that would have missed the cage wide left had it not struck Foote. The puck bounced free in front to Jere Lehtinen, who quickly turned it to his forehand and piped a shot over the catching glove of a startled Roy to even the game at 1:55 of the middle frame. The goal seemed to give the Stars a tremendous boost of confidence. Dallas didn't exactly come out flying in the first period. In fact, the Stars looked tentative and a bit scared in the early going. But Lehtinen's goal snapped the Stars to life and they slowly began to take control. As the period wore on, Colorado's chances off the rush all but dried up. The two teams fell into a more Dallas-friendly forechecking game. The score was still tied at 1-1 at the end of the second period, but it was obvious that the Stars were in command. The third period opened with the Dallas penalty killers stifling the potent Colorado power play after Matvichuk was whistled for roughing up Forsberg. The kill seemed to drain even more life from the Avs. Surprisingly, it was Colorado, and not the elderly Stars, that appeared tired and sluggish in the third period. The younger, faster Avalanche were supposed to be able to use their youth and speed to swing tight games in their favor come the third period. But that just hasn't been the case in the series. Dallas has more times than not dominated the third, and Game Six would be more of the same. At 6:49, Dallas took the lead. Dave Reid, who is replacing the injured Benoit Hogue on the second line, dug a puck free in the left wing corner and whipped a pass in front that Ozolinsh failed to cut. Joey Nieuwendyk made a marvelous play in the slot to reach out and snag the less than perfect pass on his backhand, pull it to his forehand, and whistle a low wrister on net. It took everything Roy had to get his right pad on the shot, but he couldn't control the rebound. Ozolinsh, still upset that he didn't prevent the pass from getting through in the first place, only compounded the problem by going down to block the shot and affectively removing himself from the play. That allowed Jamie Langenbrunner to fight through a check and stuff the loose rebound between Roy's outstretched legs to put Dallas in front to stay, 2-1.
Colorado almost drew even thanks to a pinching defenseman, and it wasn't Ozolinsh. Forsberg, Lemieux, and Valeri Kamensky were cycling the puck low when Alexei Gusarov made a late dash down the slot. Kamensky found him with a sweet pass and Gusarov cut to the cage and lifted a shot into Belfour's chest. A scramble ensued but the rebound was eventually cleared to safety. It seems the Avs were shooting a lot of pucks into Belfour's chest. Now that can be a sign that the goaltender is on his angle and playing extremely well, but in this case I think it was more of the Avs just flat out missing their shots. Roy kept his club in it by stopping Langenbrunner on a clean breakaway with about four minutes left in regulation. Gusarov misplayed the puck at the left point and Langenbrunner swiped it and was home free for a good 140 feet. He tried to deke Roy and pull the puck to his forehand, but St. Patrick booted it into the right win corner with his left skate before a shot could even be taken. Things got worse for Langenbrunner. After turning in the corner to try and find the puck, he was greeted by a crushing shoulder check from Forsberg that should ensure that his kids will be born dizzy. The Avs went the other way and got a scoring chance of their own, but Belfour was once again there to shut the door. Lemieux, showing some frustration, rewarded Belfour's save by skating by the Dallas netminder and elbowing him in the side of the head. Naturally, Belfour fell to the ice and acted like he was dead until the Stripes called a penalty. Then he hopped to his skates and everything was fine and dandy. What a... well, there's a word for players that fake injuries to draw penalties, but since it's a family show I won't come right out and say it. But it's five letters, and there's a couple s's involved and maybe a p. Anyway, Lemieux got hit for goaltender interference at 16:19. Whether it was a legitimate call or not isn't really a concern, it was foolish of Lemieux to even put himself in the situation by making contact with the goaltender. The Stars made the penalty look even worse by converting the power play. Once again it was Reid that acted as the set-up man, collecting a rebound near the bottom of the right wing circle and blindly wheeling a pass through the low slot that avoided Nieuwendyk and the Colorado defense before finding Langenbrunner buck naked at the bottom of the left circle for an easy one-timer into an open cage. Game over. "I had a couple of goals tonight and it was just a great team effort," said Langenbrunner. "I was the fortunate one to get the most at the end. We played hard all night and battled hard and got to live another day." Richard Matvichuk ran the score to 4-1 at 17:24 with a rather meaningless goal. The teams were four aside. Guy Carbonneau beat Adam Deadmarsh on a draw in the left faceoff circle, setting the table for Matvichuk to blister a slap shot high short-side behind an uninterested Roy. The Stars were simply the better team on this night. Colorado owned a distinct advantage in the first period, but could only build a 1-0 lead because of the goaltending of Belfour and a few missed opportunities. Dallas controlled play from the second period on, and took the game away from Colorado in the third. "Let us be honest, we played a very solid first period, but the second and third I thought they (Dallas) played extremely well," said Patrick Roy. "I hope nobody is surprised on our team. We knew that they would be desperate and they will not quit. Let's give them credit for that game. They played well." The way this series has gone, it's only fitting that it'll go the distance. Game Seven should prove to be damn entertaining. If Dallas hopes to win, Belfour must outplay Roy in net. For Colorado, Joe Sakic and Theo Fleury have to produce some offense. They've combined for only one goal in the series. That's pathetic. If these guys don't score, Colorado won't win. "We knew that it wasn't going to be easy," admitted Fleury. "They are a great hockey team. They showed it through the regular season. They showed it through the playoffs. I think we have all been here before. It is just a matter of coming out real strong in the first period in the next game and see what happens." IMPRESSIVE PERFORMANCES DALLAS Jamie Langenbrunner (2-0-2): Could have easily scored three or four goals in the third had it not been for Roy. Langenbrunner, as lame as he is, showed up when the Dallas season was on the line. That's more than one can say for a few of the Colorado superstars. Sakic and Fleury, I'm looking in your direction. Joe Nieuwendyk (0-1-1): Nieuwendyk remains a threat to score every shift. He still has tremendous jump in his legs and his wrist shot is lethal. Roy has had trouble handling it all series. Dave Reid (0-2-2): The veteran checker looked right at home on the second line, drawing assists on both of Langenbrunner's goals. Sure, both passes were blind prayers, but at least he put the puck into an area where good things could happen. "What's good for us is Reider's really cast as a fourth line player most of the year and in a checking role and when he first came to us we viewed him as a fill second line left wing or a third line left wing," said Hitchcock. "He scored twenty goals that year and had a good offensive year and he looks like that player right now. He's being very effective. He's had the benefit of not playing very many minutes so he has a lot of energy and it's just a good line, good chemistry."
Blake Sloan: That's right, Blake Sloan deserves a mention. Plugged in on the fourth line alongside Brian Skrudland and Grant Marshall, Sloan forechecked hard all night and pressured the Avalanche defense into more than one mistake. COLORADO Peter Forsberg (0-1-1): He couldn't do enough to carry his team to the win, but Forsberg continues to dominate whenever he's on the ice. He's the best player in the world. No doubt. Securing a Game Seven win, though, would go a long way to solidifying that opinion with others. Sandis Ozolinsh: Ozo was amazing in the first period. He was on the ice for Langenbrunner's game-winner, but Ozolinsh still made it fun. He was up on the play at every opportunity. Ozolinsh even tried to beat out an icing call in the second period. What more could you want? Make it fun, Sandis. Make it fun. Claude Lemieux (1-0-1): Taking the interference penalty late was brutal, but Claude had a real strong game. He put the puck to the net every chance he had. More of his teammates need to do the same. Shjon Podein: Podein was one of the few Avalanche players to skate hard and hit all three periods. Outside of Forsberg, who is of course the best player in the world, Podein was probably the best Colorado forward. WACKY GAME FACTS * Colorado fell to 3-6 on home ice in this year's playoffs. The 1987 Philadelphia Flyers and the 1998 Washington Capitals are the only other teams in history to record six losses at home in a single playoff year. Both of those clubs eventually lost in the Stanley Cup Finals; Philadelphia to Edmonton and Washington to Detroit. * Colorado is, however, 8-1 on the road. They won three road games in each of the first two series. A win in Game Seven would be their third road victory against Dallas. The Stars' only two losses at home this postseason have come against the Avalanche. LINES Dallas: Dallas rolled four for the most part, getting an especially strong performance from the Skrudland line. "We got a lot of effort from a lot of great people tonight," said Hitchcock. "I thought one of the things that really helped us was Skrudland's line with Marshall and Sloan. They really gave us the energy that was needed. By being able to keep the game close, we were able to play a lot of people tonight and keep the energy pretty high." OFFENSE (lw-c-rw)
Lehtinen - Modano - Hull DEFENSE
Matvichuk - Hatcher POWER PLAY
Lehtinen - Modano - Hull - Sydor - Zubov SHORT-HANDED
Keane - Carbonneau - Matvichuk - Hatcher Colorado: The fourth line didn't play all that much as the game progressed. Coach Bob Hartley put Forsberg, Sakic, and Fleury together with about eight minutes left in regulation. I'm of the school that you either play them together for a full 60 minutes or not at all. They may be your three best players, but they have no chance to generate any chemistry so late in the game and it's almost like wasting a shift. Especially since the Forsberg- Kamensky-Lemieux line was playing quite well to begin with and didn't need to be split. OFFENSE (lw-c-rw)
Drury - Sakic - Fleury DEFENSE
Gusarov - Foote POWER PLAY
Sakic - Forsberg - Fleury - Lemieux - Ozolinsh SHORT-HANDED
Yelle - Podein - Gusarov - Foote
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