Saturday May 16 7:30pm
The Dallas Stars can advance to the conference finals for the first time since 1991 with a home win against the Edmonton Oilers in Game Five of their Western Conference semifinal series tonight.
If the Stars win, it would also mark the first time they have advanced to the conference finals since moving to Dallas from Minnesota at the start of the 1993-94 season. Dallas would also pay Edmonton back for a first-round upset in last season's Western Conference quarterfinals.
Benoit Hogue played the role of hero for the second straight game with a pair of goals and Ed Belfour had another stellar effort with 23 saves as Dallas topped Edmonton, 3-1 on Wednesday to take a commanding lead in the series.
Hogue had six goals in 53 regular-season games, but has netted four in 10 postseason contests. Belfour enters play tonight having stopped 220-of-235 shots in the postseason and leads all playoff goaltenders with a 1.45 goals-against average.
After upsetting the Colorado Avalanche in the opening round, any magic the Oilers showed seems to have disappeared. Edmonton is just 1-for-21 on the power play against Dallas after going 7-for-46 against Colorado.
Bill Guerin, whose six goals spearheaded Edmonton's opening-round upset of heavily favored Colorado, has managed just one assist against the Stars.
Game Six, if necessary, would be played Monday in Edmonton.
#3 DETROIT RED WINGS vs #4 ST. LOUIS BLUES
Sunday May 17 2pm
DETROIT -- This was supposed to be the Stanley Cup before the real Stanley Cup final -- the two best teams remaining in the playoffs.
But somehow a large advance billing has had little to do with the excitement generated in the Western Conference playoff series between Detroit and St. Louis.
And, now that the end appears near, there is confusion surrounding the Blues, confusion surrounding the team's future.
Will Al MacInnis re-sign in St. Louis? What about Brett Hull? And where are Geoff Courtnall and Steve Duchesne going?
With the Blues trailing 3-1 heading to this afternoon's fifth game at the Joe Louis Arena (2 p.m. CBC, Fox), this could be the last afternoon together for what has been a very sound hockey team.
Through four games of the series, the Red Wings look prepared to defend their Stanley Cup title while the Blues simply don't appear ready to play at this high level.
"We're all frustrated right now," MacInnis, a veteran St. Louis defenceman, said.
"They're not giving us a lot of room out there and we're not taking advantage of the little they're giving us.
"I think we expected a lot more from ourselves in the series. We were supposed to win our games at home and now we've put ourselves in a position that makes it very difficult to come back."
There is a hardly an area in the series in which the Red Wings haven't bettered the Blues. Even in goal, where Grant Fuhr was supposed to supply an advantage over Chris Osgood, Fuhr appeared to lose his concentration in Game 4, letting in two questionable goals to give the Red Wings a 2-0 lead.
"We're getting shutout periods," said Scott Bowman, the Detroit coach, who doesn't evaluate goaltending on a game-by-game basis, instead evaluating on a period-by-period basis. "Any time you get a shutout period in the playoffs, with the way they're calling penalties, it's a bonus -- especially on the road.''
Detroit's depth at forward and solid play on defence has all but smothered St. Louis in the past two games.
In the key statistic of turnovers, St. Louis has turned over the puck 91 times, 54 times more than Detroit has in the series.
"They're a defensive type team first with great offensive talent,'' Blues coach Joel Quenneville said.
"If you want to start cheating, they're going to tear you apart.''
When the series began, the Detroit defence looked too old for the quick St. Louis forwards. But Bowman made adjustments after Game 1, adjustments that have befuddled the Blues.
"When they have the lead, they're almost impossible to play against," Blues centre Pierre Turgeon said.
"They have five guys back. It's hard to even dump it in. It we can get the lead, they have to play differently. But if we don't get the lead ... ''
Bowman has utilized his centres almost to perfection in the series, with Sergei Fedorov, Steve Yzerman, Igor Larionov and Kris Draper clearly outplaying Turgeon, Craig Conroy and the lesser-known St. Louis centres.
Fedorov, in fact, had his best period of the playoffs in Game 4.
With the score tied 2-2 in the final period, Fedorov set up a goal by Slava Kozlov, scored short-handed himself and then scored into the empty net in the 5-2 Red Wings' win.
