Friday May 29 7:30pm
DETROIT -- The Western Conference finals move to Motown for Game 3 as the Dallas Stars battle the Red Wings tonight with both teams looking to take a 2-1 edge. Tuesday, Ed Belfour made 27 saves and Bob Bassen, Greg Adams and Guy Carbonneau scored as Dallas rebounded from a flat Game 1 performance to snap Detroit's six-game road winning streak with a 3-1 victory in Game 2.
Dallas' biggest strength has been its defense. The Stars have limited the opposition to two or fewer goals in 10 consecutive playoff games, breaking the all-time playoff record held by the 1928 Montreal Maroons. Belfour, who has been the anchor in net in his first season in Dallas, has stopped 48 of 51 shots faced in the series thus far.
A key concern for Dallas has to be the lack of goals from three of their most prolific regular-season scorers. Mike Modano has failed to score in eight games, Pat Verbeek in 11 and Jamie Langenbrunner in 12. The absence of center Joe Nieuwendyk, who tore his ACL in the first round of the playoffs, has allowed the Red Wings to concentrate on containing Modano.
Red-hot Viktor Kozlov scored the lone goal for the Red Wings in Tuesday's loss. Kozlov has recorded two of the three goals in the series.
Though Detroit has scored 50 goals in 14 postseason contests thus far, two of their key scorers also have been missing in action. Brendan Shanahan has not scored since Game 4 of the Conference semifinals against St. Louis and Steve Yzerman has yet to record a goal in the series.
The Red Wings have gone 1-for-11 on the power play in the first two games of the series thus far. Detroit is 5-for-45 with the man advantage at home in the postseason thus far.
The Red Wings, who have alternated wins and losses in their six home playoff games this season, will play host for Game 4 on Sunday afternoon.
