WESTERN SEMI-FINALS
GAME SUMMARIES
GAME 3:
#2 DALLAS STARS vs #8 SAN JOSE SHARKS
Dallas leads 2-1
Next Game: Friday May 5th, 2000 9:30pm at San Jose
The San Jose Sharks got to Ed Belfour just enough to get back in their playoff series with the Dallas Stars. Ending a 171-minute, 28-second scoring drought that included consecutive shutouts by the Dallas goalie in the first two games of the series, the Sharks broke through for goals by Owen Nolan and Mike Ricci and beat the Stars 2-1 Tuesday night.
The Sharks trail the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series 2-1 with Game 4 set for Friday night.
"We've cut it in half, but we have a lot of work to do yet on Friday," Ricci said.
San Jose goalie Steve Shields made his team's sudden offense stand up by stopping 30 shots, including several clutch saves in the final period. Dallas pulled Belfour in the final minute for an extra attacker but Shields smothered Kirk Muller's wraparound attempt with 30 seconds left and Dallas failed to register another shot.
"In that final minute, I was having fun," Shields said. "I wasn't nervous. I'm usually more nervous when the games start. I knew they were going to attack me. All I had to do was defend."
San Jose finally got its first goal at 5:42 of the second period and it took a 5-on-3 power play to do it. With Blake Sloan and Aaron Gavey in the penalty box, Gary Suter got off a shot from the top of the slot and Ricci, positioned in front of the net, used the shaft of his stick to redirect it past Belfour before he could adjust.
"The first goal lifted us," said San Jose defenseman Jeff Norton. "It was big. Our doubts were over. That one got us going. We haven't lost our confidence. We just needed a wakeup call."
Dallas coach Ken Hitchcock thought Ricci got away with obstructing Belfour in the crease.
"I didn't agree with some of the calls," Hitchcock said. "I thought Ricci's goal should not have been counted. It was goaltender interference."
Belfour said it was a close call that happened to go the Sharks' way.
"He was in front of me and he backed into me but there's nothing you can do about it," he said. "Sometimes the referees see it a little bit differently and you have to give them the benefit of the doubt."
It was the first goal scored on Belfour since early in the third period of Game 5 in Dallas' first-round victory over Edmonton, a span of 164:35.
It also marked San Jose's first playoff score since Jeff Friesen's goal at 14:14 of the second period in the Sharks' Game 7 victory at St. Louis, when they completed their first-round upset of the top-seeded Blues.
Nolan, San Jose's leading scorer who sat out Game 2 at Dallas because of foot and shoulder injuries, came back to score his seventh postseason goal at 14:56 of the second, putting the Sharks in front.
Bryan Marchment started the rush in the San Jose zone, got the puck out on the wing to Vincent Damphousse, who shot a lead pass out to the streaking Nolan. He just managed to take a poke at the puck as it slid across the slot and directed it into the corner of the net past the startled Belfour.
"Our game plan was to get more shots and rebounds tonight," said Nolan, who didn't decide to play until after the pregame warmups. "I just started to drive to the net and push the puck there."
A San Jose turnover near the red line gave the Stars a short-handed breakaway in the final seconds of the second period but Mike Modano's shot from up close was stopped by Shields.
"That was a killer," Modano said. "It would have been great going into the third period tied 2-2."
Modano said all the Stars were hurt by the number of penalties in the second period.
"We were very undisciplined. When you spend 10 minutes in the penalty box, it comes back at you," he said. "You give them enough penalties and they're going to find some spots."
Dallas opened the scoring on the power play as Modano scored his fifth goal of the playoffs and third of the series. Shields deflected a shot by Brett Hull but the puck came out to Modano at the bottom of the faceoff circle and he wristed a shot past Shields 3:35 into the game.
San Jose had some early chances, outshooting the Stars 12-8 in the first, but was frustrated by Belfour. At one point, Friesen shook loose on a breakaway but Belfour came out to the top of the crease and smothered the shot just as Friesen's stick met the puck.
Belfour had another great stop with about eight minutes left in the period. The Sharks got the puck to Todd Harvey alone in the slot but Belfour dropped to his knees in anticipation of the forehand shot and blocked it.
#3 COLORADO AVALANCHE vs #4 DETROIT RED WINGS
Colorado leads 2-1
Next Game: Wednesday May 3rd, 2000 7pm at Detroit
Faced with the possibility of falling hopelessly behind, the Detroit Red Wings turned to a familiar solution -- their Russian connection. The Red Wings got goals from Igor Larionov and Sergei Fedorov on Monday night in a 3-1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche, who eliminated Detroit in the Western Conference semifinals last season. Brendan Shanahan also scored for the Red Wings who lost the first two games of this second-round series in Denver.
"It seems to me we didn't think much about going down three games," Fedorov said. "We mostly concentrated on playing our game."
Peter Forsberg scored for Colorado, which had won 14 of its previous 15 games.
The best-of-seven series continues with Game 4 on Wednesday night at Joe Louis Arena. Game 5 will be Friday night at Denver.
"We knew it would be hard to sweep that team," Avs forward Joe Sakic said. "That's a good hockey club. They played tonight like we played in the first two games -- when we won."
The first three goals came on power plays and Shanahan scored into an empty net with 40 seconds remaining. Detroit finished with a 36-23 shot advantage over the Avs, who outshot their opponents in every playoff game this season -- until this one.
"I thought they played better," Colorado goalie Patrick Roy said. "They played very well defensively."
The Red Wings, who looked a tad old and a step slow during the first two games against the high-flying Avalanche, looked more like a team bent on reclaiming the Stanley Cup championship during the first period.
The Red Wings -- flashing the speed and precision that made them the top-scoring team in the NHL during the regular season -- had a 14-6 edge in shots during the first 20 minutes.
And they also had the lead for the first time in this series.
The Red Wings, scoreless in their first nine power plays of the series, took a 1-0 lead on Larionov's first goal at 9:38 while Colorado forward Milan Hejduk was off for holding Tomas Holmstrom's stick. The goal was set up by Nicklas Lidstrom who patiently glided through the left circle with the puck before passing it to Martin Lapointe near the left post.
Lapointe tipped it to Larionov who had an open shot on the right side before Roy could recover.
"I thought they scored some nice goals," Roy said. "They're a good hockey team, but I don't think we have to change very much."
Forsberg, who scored the winning goal in three consecutive playoff games, tied it 1-1 with his fourth goal at 9:39 of the second while Larionov was off for holding. Forsberg, taking a pass from Ray Bourque, sent a slap shot over Detroit goalie Chris Osgood's left shoulder.
Bourque, however, bruised his left foot sometime during the period and didn't come out for the third period.
"I got hit with the puck," Bourque said. "I finished the period. But as I went on the pain was too bad, so I couldn't go out for the third."
The good news is the foot isn't broken.
"I don't know yet about Game 4," Bourque said. "We'll have to wait and see tomorrow. See how it feels and go from there."
Fedorov's fourth goal, 30 seconds after Shjon Podein was sent off for tripping, gave Detroit a 2-1 lead. Roy, partially blocked by Holmstrom and Steve Yzerman, didn't get a good look at the shot from the top of the left circle.
"I didn't see Fedorov's goal until it was in the net," Roy said. "I don't know where it came from."
The Avs, who have scored 11 of their 23 goals on power plays, had the man advantage when Shanahan was sent off for holding Stephane Yelle's stick with 9:08 left in the third period, but they got only two harmless shots on Osgood.
"The first three games of this series have shown that there's just not any ice out there in 5-on-5 situations," Avs coach Bob Hartley said. "You really have to battle for every inch of space you get."
The game was held up for about five minutes at 7:48 of the third period after Larionov was driven into the boards by Avs forward Serge Aubin.
The Red Wings, who won consecutive Cup titles in 1997 and 1998, have been eliminated from the playoffs the last three times they have fallen behind 2-0 in a series: in 1996 against Colorado (six games), in 1995 against New Jersey (four) and in 1992 against Chicago (four).
The last time Detroit fell behind 2-0 and won a series was in the first round of the 1992 playoffs against Minnesota (now the Dallas Stars) in seven games.