WESTERN SEMI-FINALS
GAME SUMMARIES
GAME 4:
#2 DALLAS STARS vs #8 SAN JOSE SHARKS
Dallas leads 3-1
Next Game: Sunday May 7th, 2000 7:30pm at Dallas
It didn't matter that Dallas got caught up in an out-of-character offensive free-for-all. When it was over, the Stars had regained their playoff momentum. Joe Nieuwendyk had two goals, including the go-ahead score, and Dallas added two short-handed goals in a 5-4 victory over the SanJose Sharks on Friday night. The nine goals were one more than the teams' total output in three previous games.
"It was a crazy game," said Niewendyk. "We gave up too many opportunities to them, but we're happy with the output on the other end. We got away with one, but we're going to have to tighten up when we go home."
The defending Stanley Cup champions took a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinals. The Stars can clinch the series with a victory against San Jose in Game 5 at Dallas on Sunday.
"It's a great opportunity for us to go in front of our home fans and put the hammer down," Nieuwendyk said. "We don't want to come back here."
Both San Jose goalie Steve Shields and Dallas goalie Ed Belfour, who had kept a lid on scoring in their previous games, struggled in this one.
There were three short-handed goals, two by Dallas, and San Jose converted twice on the power play. A frustrated Belfour drew successive roughing penalties around a goaltender interference call on Dave Lowry in the final period, but withstood the resulting San Jose power play.
"This was desperate hockey by both sides," said Dallas' Kirk Muller. "There were mistakes here and there and we both capitalized. It was a game of mistakes and we just tried to minimize them."
San Jose pulled Shields in the final minute for an extra attacker, but Belfour stuffed Patrick Marleau's shot from up close with 40 seconds remaining. Dallas prevented the Sharks from getting another shot.
"We had our opportunities," said Mike Ricci, who had a goal for San Jose. "We had enough goals to win. We didn't play well defensively."
Belfour had allowed only two goals in three previous games, twice shutting out the Sharks. Shields, who stopped 28 of 33 shots, had given up only two goals in the previous two games since a 4-0 loss in the series opener.
"This was definitely an opportunity to beat them, but we just didn't step up," San Jose's Jeff Norton said.
Nieuwendyk's first goal, off a rebound that Shields just missed overing up, gave the Stars a 4-3 lead before the game was tied for a fourth time on Todd Harvey's power-play goal from the slot after a centering pass by Marleau at 14:07 of the second.
Nieuwendyk then scored again, putting the Stars up by a goal heading into the final period.
"We hung in there," Muller added. "They're a tough team to play against. They're going to battle. We're fully aware of that. We knew it would come down to the wire."
Jamie Langenbrunner, who missed Game 3 with a bruised shoulder, got a pass from Scott Thornton and rushed down the ice. He drew Shields to cover one side of the net before getting off a feed to the wide-open Nieuwendyk on the other side for the go-ahead score, his third of the playoffs.
Owen Nolan forged a 3-3 tie when he answered Dallas' second short-handed score with one for the Sharks. He took the puck away from Derian Hatcher at the blue line and broke for the Dallas net, where he flipped the puck over Belfour's shoulder for his eighth goal of the playoffs.
Sergei Zubov had put Dallas up 3-2 with a short-handed score, getting a lead pass from Mike Modano and beating Shields with a shot on the goalie's stick side.
The teams, who combined for four goals in their two previous games, scored two each in the first period alone.
A Stars turnover led to Ricci's fifth goal of the playoffs, which tied it 2-2. Zubov was skating behind the net attempting to clear the puck when Marco Sturm knocked it away. It bounded out to Niklas Sundstrom and he quickly dished to Ricci, who tapped the puck in from just outside the crease.
The Stars had gone in front on a short-handed breakaway just 1� minutes after San Jose converted on a two-man advantage on Vincent Damphousse's first goal of the playoffs.
Mike Keane picked up a loose puck in the Dallas zone and took off down the left side of the rink. Sharks defenseman Bryan Marchment had the angle, but appeared to cramp up as he gave chase and couldn't catch him. Keane got off a cross-ice pass to the streaking Guy Carbonneau, who finished the breakaway by beating Shields.
Marchment left the game with a groin strain.
Modano scored 1:08 into the game, stretching his career-high points streak to eight games. Brenden Morrow won a scrum along the boards and got the puck out to Brett Hull, who passed it on to Modano for a shot from the point that slid beneath Shields' legs.
#3 COLORADO AVALANCHE vs #4 DETROIT RED WINGS
Colorado leads 3-1
Next Game: Friday May 5th, 2000 8pm at Colorado
A year ago, Colorado eliminated the Detroit Red Wings from the NHL playoffs in six games. It might not take the Avalanche that long this time. Chris Drury's goal at 10:21 of overtime lifted Colorado to a 3-2 victory Wednesday night and gave the Avs a commanding 3-1 lead over the Red Wings in their Western Conference semifinal series. "I thought we battled hard," Detroit forward Doug Brown said. "But, sometimes the puck goes the other way."
In this case, it went the other way after Detroit defenseman Steve Duchesne got caught out of position. Duchesne followed Red Wings forward Steve Yzerman into the offensive zone. When the puck ended up on a Colorado stick, Duchesne couldn't get back, leaving Chris Chelios all alone to defend a three-man rush.
It was no contest.
Drury snapped his third goal of the playoffs past Detroit goalie Chris Osgood from the slot off nice passes from Peter Forsberg and Adam Deadmarsh. "It's pretty exciting," Drury said. "It was like a dream come true to score a goal like that."
Jon Klemm and Dave Andreychuk also scored for the Avs, who return home for Friday's Game 5 of the best-of-seven series. A sixth game, if needed, would be Sunday in Detroit. "I think we've got to look at the next game like a Game 7," Drury said. "We don't want to come back here. We want to finish them off." Vyacheslav Kozlov and Tomas Holmstrom scored for the Red Wings who have been eliminated from the playoffs the last three times they have fallen behind 2-0. Colorado won the opening two games of the series at home.
Only once has Detroit coach Scotty Bowman guided a team through a 2-0 deficit to win a series. That was in 1992 when he coached Pittsburgh past Washington.
"You just go in and think of the next game," Bowman said. "You can't think beyond the next game. It's not like we're getting whipped or there's a big edge either way. We're capable of winning the next game. That's how I look at it."
The Avs didn't appear to miss star defenseman Ray Bourque, who sprained his left knee Monday night and sat out this game.
Kozlov, on his 28th birthday, scored his second goal to give Detroit a 2-1 lead at 9:12 of the third period while Deadmarsh was off for high-sticking Pat Verbeek.
But the Avs tied it 2-2 with 4:27 remaining when Osgood, trying to clear Andreychuk's shot, scooped the puck into the net.
Avs goalie Patrick Roy made a spectacular save on Kozlov in the slot at 5:42 of overtime. Osgood stopped Forsberg from the left circle at 8:19 of the extra stanza.
Detroit outshot the Avs 25-16 during the first three periods of the close-checking, heavy-hitting contest and 7-5 in overtime.
"We played the type of game we wanted to play," Chelios said. "We had a 2-1 lead with less than five minutes to play. Then, we got running around a little bit, and it cost us."
Klemm's first playoff goal gave Colorado a 1-0 lead at 3:37 of the second, marking the third time in the series the Avs have scored first. Klemm, camped on the right side of the net, took a nice pass from Joe Sakic and snapped it between Osgood's legs.
Holmstrom, by far the Red Wings' best player on this night, took a pass from Brown at the right side of the Colorado goal and slid the puck between Roy's pads for his third goal and a 1-1 tie at 9:47 of the second.
The game was full of hard checks throughout. During one shift in the first period, Avs defenseman Adam Foote took on Darren McCarty and Martin Lapointe. Foote, who stepped up his game in the absence of Bourque, lost his headgear taking McCarty into the corner, but still came back to bump Lapointe away from Roy in front of the crease. Both Roy and Osgood came up with tough saves in the first period. The Red Wings came closest to a goal in the first 20 minutes when Brown flipped the puck past Roy at 7:36. It was waved off, however, because Holstrom was checked into the net, knocking it off one post.
Holmstrom had a good chance near the left post with one minute left in the first, but couldn't get the puck past Roy.
Each goalie came up with nice saves late in the second. Osgood robbed Sandis Ozolinsh, who got free in the right circle with 3:45 left in the period and Roy stopped Kozlov from the right circle with 1:28 left in the second. Osgood also handled a clear shot from the right circle by Forsberg with 51 seconds remaining in the period.
Six of the 10 goals during the first three games came on power plays, but penalties weren't much of a factor in this game until late. Referees Kerry Fraser and Dave Jackson called two penalties, one on each team, in the first 2:19.
There wasn't another penalty called until Chelios was sent off for high-sticking Forsberg at 2:04 of the third period. Thirty-nine seconds later, Forsberg was called for interference on Brendan Shanahan.
Then came Deadmarsh's double-minor for drawing blood on Verbeek. Kozlov scored eight seconds later.