DALLAS (AP) -- "CuJo" has the Dallas Stars number again. And that number is zero.
Edmonton's Curtis Joseph, who shut out Dallas in Game 2 last season, did the same thing to the Stars on Saturday night, stopping 15 shots, including 11 in the third period, as the Oilers prevailed 2-0 to square the Western Conference semifinal.
"They had a lot of chances in the third period and I really had to tighten my concentration," Joseph said.
Game 3 of the best-of-7 series will be in Edmonton on Monday night. Top-seeded Dallas won the first game 3-1 Thursday night against the seventh-seeded Oilers on two goals by Sergei Zubov.
"Our defense wasn't very good in Game 1," Oilers coach Ron Low said. "Tonight, we shut them down in the neutral zone. It was tight checking game. Tonight, I don't know if Curtis had four tough saves. We just played well in our own end."
Joseph, who registered shutouts in the final two games of the first-round series with Colorado, robbed Pat Verbeek and Greg Adams on point blank shots in the third period as the Dallas offense awakened too late.
Mike Modano of Dallas said Joseph was superb.
"Everything we tried was either blocked or deflected by Joseph," Modano said. "We've got to make some adjustments. We're embarrassed. We let each other down. We have to bounce back and play together as a team. Something we have done all season after a bad game."
Dallas coach Ken Hitchcock said it was more than just Joseph.
"We were outplayed in the first two periods. That's as much as we've been outplayed here all year," he said. "We had a difficult time with their tenacity and desperation. They were on top of us the first two periods with their forecheck and we couldn't get anything started."
Edmonton got the only goal it needed in the second period.
Doug Weight actually looked like he was going to miss an open net, but his shot ricocheted in off of Ed Belfour with 3:54 to go in the second period to give Edmonton a 1-0 lead. The power-play goal came with one second remaining during a 5-on-3 situation. Richard Matvichuk and Derian Hatcher were both in the penalty box for two-minute minors.
"I had an open net but Craig Ludwig was coming across and I changed the shot at the end," Weight said. "It hit the buns of steel -- his hip -- and went in."
The besieged Belfour knocked away three shots but Weight was in perfect position just outside the crease for the rebound that rolled his way. Weight gave a triumphant fist pump when the shot found the net to silence the sellout crowd of 16,928 in Reunion Arena.
The Stars pulled Belfour with 50 seconds left and Rem Murray of the Oilers broke away to score an empty-net goal with 10.7 seconds left.
Edmonton thoroughly outplayed the Stars in the first period and got off 12 shots against Belfour. Dallas didn't have a shot on goal, only the second time since 1968 that a team failed to record a shot on goal in a Stanley Cup playoff game.
"I don't remember any period where I didn't face a shot before," Joseph said. "That was the epitome of team defense."
The Oilers knocked Dallas from the playoffs in the seventh game of the first round last year. Joseph beat them 4-0 in Game 2 and had a second shutout later in the series.
"We just weren't ready to play," Hatcher said. "That's something we have to address."
Hitchcock put it simply.
"We have to play with a lot more desperation in Game 3 if we're going to have a fighting chance," he said.
#3 DETROIT RED WINGS vs #4 ST. LOUIS BLUES
DETROIT (AP) -- The Detroit Red Wings rediscovered their "A" game just in time to hand the St. Louis Blues their first playoff loss and even their Western Conference series at one game apiece Sunday.
"They worked a little harder and were a little more committed today," St. Louis goaltender Grant Fuhr said after losing 6-1 to the defending champs. "We've got to go back and regroup now."
Martin LaPointe, Nicklas Lidstrom, Tomas Holmstrom, Steve Yzerman, Larry Murphy and Kirk Maltby scored for the Red Wings, who had a 34-25 edge in shots over St. Louis.
Terry Yake scored for the Blues, who swept the Los Angeles Kings in the first round and defeated Detroit 4-2 in the opener.
"Don't read too much into this score," Yzerman said. "The game was a lot tighter than it would indicate. That was a close game, until the end there."
The best-of-7 semifinal series moves to St. Louis for games Tuesday and Thursday nights, then returns to Detroit for Game 5 next Sunday.
"Naturally, we're happy to get a split," said Fuhr, who was 3-2-1 against Detroit this season. "But we're not happy with the way we lost. We didn't play hard today. When you don't play hard in this game, you lose."
St. Louis played most of the third period without its captain, Chris Pronger, who collapsed moments after being struck hard in the chest by a shot from Detroit's Dmitri Mironov. Pronger, whose heartbeat slowed for a few seconds, was carried off on a stretcher to a waiting ambulance.
Yake then had to be helped off with 5:07 remaining when Anders Eriksson's slap shot caught him in the face, lifting him off the ice.
The Blues, who have high Cup aspirations, were 3-2-1 against Detroit this season. Both sides showed championship qualities in the first period with good checking, hard hits and spectacular goaltending. Fittingly, the period ended in a 1-1 tie.
But the Red Wings, bidding to become the first team since 1992 to repeat as Cup champions, broke it open on goals by Lidstrom, Holmstrom and Yzerman in the second period.
"They responded," St. Louis defenseman Marc Bergevin said. "They met the challenge. They did what they had to do. They put us on our heels a little bit."
Lidstrom gave Detroit the lead for the first time in the series at 9:01 when he one-timed a feed from Slava Kozlov past Fuhr's outstretched glove. It was Lidstrom's third goal of the playoffs.
Holmstrom made it 3-1 on a spectacular goal, his third, at 12:29. Holmstrom raced around defenseman Todd Gill, stopped right in front of Fuhr, then made two deft moves that left the goalie flat on the ice. Holmstrom finished it by lifting the puck over Fuhr into the upper right corner of the net.
"Basically, it wasn't because Fuhr guessed wrong," Detroit coach Scotty Bowman said. "Holmstrom is pretty good on that play."
Yzerman's second playoff goal went in just under the crossbar with 1:13 left in the period, giving Detroit a 4-1 lead.
But the Blues, who scored 16 goals in their first-round sweep of Los Angeles, weren't finished. Chris Osgood made a crucial stick save to rob Pavol Demitra with 44 seconds remaining in the period.
The 19,983 red-clad fans in Joe Louis Arena chanted "Ozzie" as the teams skated off for the second intermission.
Murphy's first goal was a shorthanded empty-netter with 69 seconds remaining in the game, and Fuhr let Maltby's shot trickle over the line for his second playoff goal with 26 seconds left for the final margin.
Yake gave St. Louis a 1-0 lead with his second goal at 9:29 of the first period. His shot under the stick of Osgood -- screened by Geoff Courtnall -- came with 11 seconds remaining in Bob Rouse's elbowing penalty.
Detroit tied it on Lapointe's power-play goal at 17:13 of the first period. Lapointe, gliding down the right side of the slot, took a perfect pass from Igor Larionov. Lapointe snapped it past a defenseless Fuhr for his second playoff goal.
