WESTERN FINALS
GAME DAY PREVIEWS
GAME 6:
#2 DALLAS STARS vs #4 COLORADO AVALANCHE
Dallas leads 3-2
Game time: Thursday May 25th, 2000 8pm at Colorado
The Dallas Stars can move into the Stanley Cup Finals for the second consecutive year tonight when they visit the Colorado Avalanche in Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals. Joe Nieuwendyk tipped a point shot past Patrick Roy with 7:50 left in the first overtime as Dallas moved within a game of the finals with a 3-2 victory over Colorado on Tuesday, giving the Stars a 3-2 edge in the best-of-seven series.
Nieuwendyk had to be double-shifted often after Jamie Langenbrunner went down with a knee injury in the first period. Langenbrunner did not return and is not expected to play tonight.
Stars goaltender Ed Belfour outplayed Roy, stopping 29 shots, including two on a critical sequence in overtime. He kicked away Adam Deadmarsh's shot from the slot, then denied Joe Sakic, who tried to maneuver around the goaltender with the rebound. Roy, who faced only 20 shots, fell to 34-11 lifetime in playoff overtime games. His 34 wins are the most all-time in postseason OT games.
Dallas sniper Brett Hull scored his third goal in the last two games for his 85th career playoff tally, tying former New York Islanders great Mike Bossy for fifth all-time. Hull, who scored the Stanley Cup-winning goal in triple-overtime during Game 6 of last year's finals at Buffalo, has four in the series.
On the flip side, Stars center Mike Modano has gone three consecutive games without a shot for the first time in his career. He led the team during the regular season with 38 goals, 43 assists and 81 points.
Colorado's line of Sakic, Dave Andreychuk and Milan Hejduk had combined for only three points and a minus-9 rating through the first four games of the series before totaling a goal, an assist, a plus-3 rating and 10 shots Tuesday.
The Avalanche are 7-1 at the Pepsi Center during the postseason, with the only loss coming Sunday when the Stars posted a 4-1 victory to even the series at 2-2.
Colorado led last year's conference finals three games to two, but Dallas won Game 6 on the road and Game 7 at home before defeating the Sabres in the Stanley Cup Finals.
The Avalanche went 0-for-4 on the power play Tuesday and are 2-for-22 in the last four games of the series.
A victory tonight will give the Stars their third Stanley Cup Finals appearance in team history. They also made it in 1981 when the franchise was based in Minnesota but fell to the New York Islanders in five games.