WESTERN SEMI-FINALS
GAME DAY PREVIEWS
GAME 1:
#2 DALLAS STARS vs #8 SAN JOSE SHARKS
Series tied 0-0
Game time: Friday April 28th, 2000 7pm at Dallas
Coming off their stunning upset of the Presidents' Trophy-winning St. Louis Blues, the San Jose Sharks turn their attention tonight to the defending Stanley Cup champion Dallas Stars in Game One of the Western Conference semifinals. San Jose, an eighth seed, pulled off its second upset of a top seed Tuesday when it defeated St. Louis, 3-1, in Game Seven of the conference quarterfinals. Owen Nolan, Jeff Friesen and Ronnie Stern scored and Steve Shields made 21 saves, improving his personal mark in Game Sevens to 2-0.
Nolan tied for the league lead six goals in the conference quarterfinals and had eight points to pace the Sharks, who also upset Detroit in the first round in 1994. He slid to block a lethal slapshot by Al MacInnis in the third period and took the puck in the left skate. Nolan missed practice on Thursday but is expected to play tonight.
Nolan proved to be the ultimate equalizer against a dominant Blues' squad and the Stars should be on alert, since the 28-year-old right wing had four goals and an assist in six contests against them in the regular season.
The Stars have been off since last Friday, when they upended the Edmonton Oilers, 3-2, to take that Western quarterfinal series in five games. Brett Hull finished with a goal and an assist and leads Dallas with three goals and six points.
San Jose went 4-2 against Dallas this season, including a 2-1 mark at Reunion Arena. These teams also met in the 1998 Western quarterfinals as the Stars pulled out the victory in six games. In that series, Dallas won the first two games here by a combined score of 9-3.
Dallas goaltender Ed Belfour once again dominated Edmonton but is just 10-13-2 against San Jose. Traded to the Sharks during the 1996-97 season, he played only 13 games for San Jose before jumping to Dallas via free agency.
Stars' fans will gear their anger towards Sharks defenseman Bryan Marchment for a pair of reasons. In December 1997 he was suspended three games for kneeing Mike Modano. In the opening game of the 1998 playoff series, his hit tore Joe Nieuwendyk's knee ligaments, forcing him to miss the rest of the postseason.
But the Dallas faithful also figures to welcome back defenseman Sergei Zubov, whose strained knee has kept him out since the end of March. Former Selke winner Jere Lehtinen could return from his ankle injury in either Game Two or Game Three. Since January 19, he has played just one game, on April 9.
Game Two is here on Sunday.
#3 COLORADO AVALANCHE vs #4 DETROIT RED WINGS
Series tied 0-0
Game time: Thursday April 27th, 2000 10pm at Colorado
In one of the fiercest rivalries in hockey, the Colorado Avalanche and Detroit Red Wings meet Thursday night in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals. When these archrivals met in a meaningless regular-season game on April 9, they played the NHL's first penalty-free game in more than 20 years. But with a trip to the conference finals on the line, that is unlikely to happen again.
Colorado surprised Detroit in the 1996 conference finals en route to winning the Stanley Cup. That six-game series was punctuated by Claude Lemieux's hit on Kris Draper that left the Red Wings center with a fractured jaw. Lemieux has returned to New Jersey, but the bad blood may linger.
Detroit turned the tables in 1997, topping the Avalanche in six games before ending a 42-year championship drought.
Last year, the Red Wings appeared dominant in winning the first two games of the conference semifinals before Colorado took the next four contests.
Colorado's Patrick Roy is still around, with more playoff wins than anyone in NHL history, and Chris Osgood again will be at the other end of the rink tonight. Roy's numbers are not as gaudy as Osgood's, but he came up big last year, allowing only seven goals over the final four games of the Red Wings' series.
Only the St. Louis Blues had more points during the regular season than Detroit, but the Avalanche have home-ice advantage after capturing the title in the weak Northwest Division.
No team is hotter than Colorado, which ended the season on an eight-game winning streak and needed only five games to send the Phoenix Coyotes to another first-round playoff exit. Since acquiring future Hall of Fame defenseman Ray Bourque from the Boston Bruins on March 6, the Avalanche are 16-3-1.
Bourque is a plus-12 in 19 games with Colorado, combining with Adam Foote to form the team's top defense pairing. In the opening round, coach Bob Hartley used Bourque and Foote to shadow the Coyotes' duo of Keith Tkachuk and Jeremy Roenick. The assignment could vary against the Red Wings, who had five 20-goal scorers and six more with at least 10.
Brendan Shanahan led the way with 41 goals, including nine game-winners. Captain Steve Yzerman enjoyed his best offensive season in three years with 35 goals and 44 assists, and scrappy Pat Verbeek proved a valuable addition with 22 goals and 26 assists.
Sergei Fedorov finished strongly during the season and, amid rumors of a reconciliation with Anna Kournikova, led the Red Wings with five points as they swept Los Angeles in the West quarterfinals. Martin Lapointe, who had 16 goals during the season, contributed his first career playoff hat trick.
The Avalanche are one of few teams that can match Detroit's firepower.
It starts up the middle with centers Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg. Despite missing 22 games, Sakic led Colorado with 81 points, including 17 goals and 16 assists over the final 18 games of the season. He and Forsberg had four points apiece in the first round.
Forsberg was limited to 49 games by shoulder surgery and a concussion, then missed the playoff opener with an unrelated shoulder ailment. When healthy, he's the best two-way forward in the world. And he showed signs of being 100 percent by setting up a goal and scoring the series-clincher against Phoenix.
Super sophomores Milan Hejduk and Chris Drury scored just one goal apiece in the first round, but Adam Deadmarsh came up big with three goals and three assists.
Colorado's leading playoff scorer is defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh, who wreaked havoc against the Coyotes and helped the Avalanche go 7-for-27 on the power play. Five of Ozolinsh's seven points came with the extra man.
Nicklas Lidstrom is Detroit's key figure on defense. An uncharacteristic minus-4 in the first round, he led all NHL defensemen in scoring during the regular season with 73 points, including nine power-play goals, four shorthanded tallies and three game-winners.
The Red Wings' special teams were even more impressive in the conference quarterfinals. Detroit was 7-for-23 on the power play and killed all 23 shorthanded situations. Osgood helped lead the penalty-killing effort by recording two shutouts and allowing only six goals in four games. Five of those goals came in Game Two, when the Red Wings won an 8-5 shootout.
Even with so many stars dotting the rosters for both teams, the series could come down to role-players like Draper, Kirk Maltby and Tomas Holmstrom of the Red Wings or Stephane Yelle, Shjon Podein and Dave Reid of the Avalanche.
Game 2 is here on Saturday.