DALLAS (AP) _ Dallas scored goals on four of 14 power plays, two by Pat Verbeek, and goalkeeper Ed Belfour shined Friday night as the Stars lost another center but took a 2-0 lead in their opening-round playoff series with a 5-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks.
Mike Modano, who just signed a $6 million a year contract with Dallas, sustained a mild concussion in a second-period collision with Marcus Ragnarsson of the Sharks and did not return.
Whether Modano, who hit his head on the ice when he fell, will play in Game 3 on Sunday in San Jose was questionable.
Dallas lost top regular-season scorer Joe Nieuwendyk to a first-period knee injury in Wednesday night's 4-1 win. He was expected to miss at least two weeks after the hit by San Jose defenseman Bryan Marchment.
There was no penalty on Marchment's hit and there was none on Modano's injury.
The Stars struck early and late in the first period to take a 2-0 lead.
Jere Lehtinen's rebound shot on Mike Vernon's stick side just 85 seconds into the game gave Dallas a 1-0 lead. It came off a shot by Sergei Zubov that Vernon couldn't control on a power play.
Derian Hatcher made it 2-0 with his second career playoff goal with just 28 seconds left. He got a long rebound and whistled a 45-foot slap shot past the screened Vernon.
Dallas scored twice on power plays in the second period as Verbeek and Benoit Hogue each scored off rebounds against the besieged Vernon.
Belfour lost his shutout with 12:14 left in the third period when Bill Houlder's hard 15-foot wrist shot beat him to his glove side. Murray Craven scored again for the Sharks with 57 seconds left.
Belfour stopped 18 shots in his 37th career playoff win.
Marchment was closely watched by the officials and was called twice for penalties. He was roundly booed each time he touched the puck.
Kelly Hrudey replaced Vernon in the third period. Vernon faced 14 shots.
Verbeek beat Hrudey on another power play with 2:58 to play on a quick wrist shot just outside the crease.
#2 COLORADO AVLANCHE vs #7 EDMONTON OILERS
DENVER (AP) -- Peter Forsberg was knocked senseless in last year's playoff series against Edmonton, missing two games with a concussion. Friday night, he delivered some knockout blows of his own.Forsberg had two goals and three assists, sparking the Colorado Avalanche past Edmonton 5-2 in a penalty- and fight-filled game to even the first-round series 1-1.
"We really needed this," Forsberg said. "I think the key tonight was we played for 60 minutes and we didn't let them get into the game."
Avalanche coach Marc Crawford said he has ceased to be amazed by Forsberg.
"Nothing he does seems to surprise anybody," he said. "It's fun to watch when you have a player performing at that level.
"Our superstars were real special tonight. We had a real barrage of chances in the first period that set the tone. We were very aggressive, very assertive."
Valeri Kamensky added two goals and an assist for Colorado, and Sandis Ozolinsh had two assists.
Joe Sakic, who missed the series opener while serving a one-game suspension for a knee-on-knee hit on Detroit's Kris Draper in the final regular-season game, scored a critical shorthanded goal after Edmonton had cut Colorado's lead to 2-1 in the second period.
Bill Guerin scored both Edmonton goals, each on 5-on-3 power plays.Games 3 and 4 are scheduled for Sunday and Tuesday in Edmonton.
Patrick Roy had 25 saves, and Edmonton's Curtis Joseph had 17 before being replaced by backup Bob Essensa after Colorado's fourth goal late in the second period.
Oilers coach Ron Low said Forsberg, who also had a five-point game against Edmonton on Oct. 15, "played about the same as he usually does against us. He's pretty good.
"They came out flying the first 12 minutes. After that, it was a little too late."
In a first period that saw Edmonton's Roman Hamrlik draw an interference penalty just nine seconds in the game and referee Mark Faucette subsequently call 10 other infractions, Colorado took a 2-0 lead.
Kamensky scored on a power play at 1:22. Forsberg, who scored both Colorado goals in a 3-2 loss Wednesday night, sneaked a pass across the crease to Kamensky, who scored from just left of the goal.
Less than two minutes later, Forsberg weaved down center ice past Oilers Todd Marchant and Drake Berehowsky and put a back-hander past Joseph at 2:54.
Several skirmishes broke out early in the second period, with Edmonton's Greg de Vries and Colorado's Adam Foote the main combatants. Four players were assessed 5-minute penalties for fighting, and de Vries and Foote also got 10-minute misconducts.
The Oilers had a two-man advantage for 53 seconds, and Guerin's power-play goal at 10:53 made it 2-1. Guerin's shot from the left circle went between Roy's legs.
But Colorado countered 35 seconds later on Sakic's short-handed goal, with assists by Roy, who cleared the puck, and Forsberg, who fed a streaking Sakic.
Forsberg put Colorado ahead 4-1 at 13:23 with a hard shot from the right circle.
Kamensky scored his second goal on a backhander from the slot 30 seconds into the third period.
Four fights broke out in the final period, which featured a combined 84 penalty minutes.
The Avalanche were without wing Rene Corbet, who broke his left thumb in the series opener and will be sidelined a minimum of four weeks following surgery. The Oilers were missing defenseman Janne Niinimaa, who sustained a mild concussion in the opener.
Edmonton lost wing Bill Huard late in the first period with a groin pull.
#3 DETROIT RED WINGS vs #6 PHOENIX COYOTES
DETROIT (AP) _ The last thing Detroit wanted was a free-wheeling series with the Phoenix Coyotes. The Red Wings still remember what happened the last time that happened.
Still, the Red Wings played one of their worst playoff games in years Friday night and Phoenix walked off with a 7-4 victory that tied their best-of-7 series 1-1 with the defending Stanley Cup champions.
``Things didn't go our way when we really needed it,'' said Sergei Fedorov, who scored two goals for Detroit. ``The puck took some crazy bounces. They scored on their bounces. We didn't score on ours. This game can turn on you so quick.''
Which is exactly what the Red Wings are afraid of.
Most of the Detroit players were on the team two years ago when goalie Nikolai Khabibulin gave the Red Wings fits in the playoffs as the then-Winnipeg Jets took Detroit to six games. The series left the Red Wings so drained that they were eliminated in the second round by Colorado.
``Obviously, we're not as good as them,'' said Phoenix forward Rick Tocchet, one of three Coyotes who scored two goals. ``But, pound for pound, we've got some guys and we'll go out and compete with them.
``We knew that if we gained a split in here, we've got a chance in this series.''
Keith Tkachuk and Jeremy Roenick also scored twice for Phoenix. Mike Gartner had the other goal for the Coyotes who matched the franchise record for playoff goals set in a 7-5 win over Edmonton in 1990, when they were the Jets.
Igor Larionov and Mathieu Dandenault each added a goal for the Red Wings who are trying to become the first team in six years to repeat as Cup champions.
The series continues with games Sunday and Tuesday in Phoenix, then returns to Detroit for Game 5 on April 30.
``The things we talked about before the series, we did a lot better tonight,'' Phoenix coach Jim Schoenfeld said. ``Still, we're going to have to play better in Game 3 than we did in Game 2. We know the Red Wings will, that's for sure.''
Detroit, which ended 42 years of frustration by going 16-4 in last year's playoffs, outshot the Coyotes 38-28, but Khabibulin, who was chased during a 6-3 loss in Game 1, came up with some big saves.
Phoenix scored twice in the first period and blew the game open with four goals _ two shorthanded _ in a six-shot span of the second, taking a 6-2 lead with 6:09 left in the period.
``There's no rest against a team like that,'' Tocchet said. ``We got a goal, they got a goal. You don't want to get into a shootout with them.''
The Coyotes, who haven't advanced past the first round of the playoffs since 1987 took it to Detroit from the very start.
After Darren McCarty was sent off for holding at 1:25, Phoenix peppered Chris Osgood with three blistering shots. Gartner, from the top of the left circle, took advantage of Bob Corkum's screen and finally beat Osgood at 2:34 for the Coyotes first lead in the series.
Detroit's defense seemed a step slow and the Coyotes kept the pressure on Osgood who kept coming up with one brilliant save after another. But at 11:00, Tkachuk got around defenseman Bob Rouse and lifted the puck into the net over the sprawling Osgood for a 2-0 lead.
That seemed to get Detroit's attention. Thirteen seconds later, Larionov knocked in the rebound of Mike Knuble's shot, cutting the deficit to 2-1.
Exactly two minutes later, at 13:13, the Red Wings were handed another golden opportunity when Gerald Diduck joined Michel Petit in the penalty box, giving Detroit a two-man advantage for a 1:35 span. McCarty and Steve Yzerman both got off good shots during the power play, but Khabibulin came up with the big saves.
Detroit's defense continued to make mistakes in the second period and Osgood _ who sat on the the bench while Mike Vernon won the Cup last year _ gave up some soft goals.
Tocchet got around Martin Lapointe and slipped the puck between Osgood's legs for his second goal of the series at 4:39; Roenick stole the puck from Larry Murphy and skated in alone on Osgood for a shorthanded goal at 7:13. Roenick made it 5-1 when he picked off a lazy pass from Dmitri Mironov and put on a fake that sent Osgood sprawling for another shorthanded goal at 13:44.
``I've got to stop those,'' Osgood said. ``I'm going to in the future.''
The teams then began trading goals.
Dandenault's power-play goal at 13:32 of the second gave partisan fans in Joe Louis Arena only a moment of joy because Tkachuk scored again just 19 seconds later. Fedorov scored at 15:10 of the second, Tocchet at 1:45 of the third and Fedorov again, on a power play, at 4:05 of the third.
#4 ST. LOUIS BLUES vs #5 L.A. KINGS
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Jim Campbell slipped a backhander between Jamie Storr's pads with 8:23 to go as the St. Louis Blues beat the Los Angeles Kings 2-1 Saturday night to take a two games to none series lead.Game 2 featured a lot tighter checking than the opener, an 8-3 St. Louis victory. After being limited to 15 shots in the first two periods, the Blues turned up the pressure with 12 shots in the third against Storr, a rookie making his first career playoff start.
The Kings, shorthanded after Jozef Stumpel pulled down Craig Conroy on a Blues' 2-on-1 chance, missed a couple chances to clear the zone. Pierre Turgeon got control of the puck at the top of the right circle and fed it to a wide-open Campbell in front for his third goal of the playoffs.
The Blues had been 0-for-6 on the power play before the goal from Campbell, who had 22 in the regular season.
Chris Pronger scored in the second period for the Blues and Grant Fuhr stopped 26 shots for his 82nd career playoff victory. Game 3 is Monday night in Los Angeles.
Glen Murray scored his second goal of the playoffs for the Kings.
Storr, a 22-year-old rookie who was 8-3-1 in his last 12 decisions in the regular season, got the start after a shaky opener from Stephane Fiset, who allowed five goals on 27 shots before he was removed. The Kings' defense tightened considerably from the Game 1 shellacking, when the Blues took 40 shots, and Storr did his part with a solid effort.
Fuhr, 35, was even better. He made three big stops during a second-period Kings power play.
Los Angeles continued to struggle with the man advantage, going 0-for-8 Saturday and 0-for-8 in Game 1.
The Blues are 5-0-1 against the Kings including the regular season and have won 11 of 14 counting their stretch drive. Los Angeles has dropped 10 of 15.
Both teams did a good job killing penalties in the scoreless first period. St. Louis didn't get off a shot in its first two power plays and was 0-for-3, while Los Angeles took one shot in each of its four chances.
Referee Rob Shick was again liberal with the whistle in the second period, calling seven more penalties, and each team scored in a 4-on-4 situation.
An off-speed shot from Pronger from the left circle off a setup from Conroy fooled Storr and put the Blues ahead at 1:43. Murray tied it at 7:49 on the rebound of a point shot by Aki Berg.
