Sunday May 31 2pm
DETROIT -- One more slow start like Game 3 and the Dallas Stars can forget about travelling any farther east in these playoffs.
While they ganged up on 40-year-old defenceman Slava Fetisov, the first Detroit shifts saw the Wings rough up front-liners Mike Modano and Greg Adams and start building a 4-0 lead. Big defenceman Shawn Chambers twisted a knee, leaving Chambers and Adams doubtful for Game 4 this afternoon at Joe Louis Arena.
With Vladimir Konstantinov's presence in the crowd of 20,000 is certain to make the Wings even more intent on driving the Stars into the Detroit River, this Western Conference final may come down to the half-hour that follows the 2 p.m. faceoff.
What's frustrating to the Stars is that on Friday, Steve Yzerman was held to two shots and an assist, while Brendan Shanahan, Slava Kozlov and Sergei Fedorov were blanked in both categories. Yet Detroit still scored five goals.
"I know Ed Belfour won't have a game like (Game 3)," Dallas coach Ken Hitchcock promised. "I know he'll answer the bell. Our key personnel (Modano, Sergei Zubov) have to muster up."
Belfour can reproach only himself for his ill-fated dive that spoiled an attempted four-goal comeback. The rest is up to the Stars' checkers and power play, which contributed to a first-overall finish in the regular season but has fared poorly in this series.
There will be a change or two in the lineup with Craig Muni likely replacing Chambers and Jamie Wright on deck if Adams can't go. Wright would play with Benoit Hogue and Pat Verbeek, while Hitchcock leaves Modano with Jere Lehtinen and Jamie Langenbrunner, the line that sparked the three-goal rally on Friday.
GAME NOTES
The first three-point night of the series was produced by Nicklas Lidstrom, who had two goals and an assist ... The Stars' power play has connected only once in its past 48 tries. Dallas has had 17 opportunities in this series ... The Wings have scored twice on their 17 power plays ... The Stars outshot the Wings 34-20 on Friday but got 20 shots from their defencemen. The Detroit defencemen had 10 shots.
