STANLEY CUP FINALS
GAME DAY PREVIEWS
GAME 3:
#4 NEW JERSEY DEVILS vs # 2 DALLAS STARS DEVILS
Series tied 1-1
Game time: Saturday June 3rd, 2000 8pm at Dallas
Now that they have regained home-ice advantage, the Dallas Stars return to Texas and look to take a two games to one lead over the New Jersey Devils in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals.
Ed Belfour made the saves he didn't make in Game 1 and Brett Hull scored his second goal of the night with 4:16 remaining as the Stars evened the best-of-seven series with a 2-1 victory on Thursday.
Pulled after allowing six goals on only 18 shots in Tuesday's opener, Belfour made 27 saves and won for the ninth time in as many starts following a loss. He stopped all 19 shots over the final two periods and helped the defending Stanley Cup champions kill a key power play midway through the third.
The game was deadlocked at 1-1 for more than 43 minutes until Hull got his league-leading 11th playoff goal and fourth game-winner. Coming off an uncharacteristic 7-3 loss, the Stars regained home-ice advantage and will also host Game Four on Monday.
The loss was New Jersey's first in six Stanley Cup finals games and ended an overall four-game winning streak that dated to the Eastern Conference finals.
New Jersey's top line of Patrik Elias, Jason Arnott and Petr Sykora, which was such a force in the series opener, was a combined minus-6 in Game Two. The Devils' lone goal came from Alexander Mogilny, whose tally midway through the opening period knotted the contest until Hull's go-ahead goal in the third.
The combined 10 goals in Game One made for the highest-scoring Stanley Cup Finals game since Pittsburgh edged Chicago, 6-5, in Game Four of the 1992 series. The Stars returned to what got them to the Finals for the second straight season, stifling the opposition once they got the lead.
For the first time against New Jersey, the opposing team's top line was the crucial in victory. Hull scored twice and Mike Modano had a part on both goals. The high-scoring duo were held without a point in Game One.
They Devils are 7-2 away from Continental Airlines Arena and won the final two games on the road in Philadelphia when they found themselves down three games to one against the Flyers in the Eastern Conference finals.
Although bothered by a hyperextended knee, Dallas captain Derian Hatcher was in uniform Thursday night and his pairing with Richard Matvichuk was among the many defensive factors that helped the Stars. But right wing Jamie Langenbrunner will likely miss tonight's game with a knee injury.