WESTERN QUARTER-FINALS
GAME SUMMARIES
GAME 4:
#1 DALLAS STARS vs #8 EDMONTON OILERS
Dallas wins 4-0
Next Game: Dallas advances to the next round
Talk about your grey power. The Dallas Stars, 14 of whom are over the age of 30, skated with the Edmonton Oilers for three periods, then outplayed them for most of three more before knocking them out of the NHL playoffs with a 3-2 victory on Tuesday night.
"It got to the point where I thought we were going to flip a coin to decide it. ... It was a four-game sweep but it felt like it was a seven-game series," said Stars forward Joe Nieuwendyk, who led the team with two goals, including the winner at 17:34 of the third overtime to conclude the longest game in the history of both franchises.
"We have an older team. That (game) could've killed some guys out there," added Stars forward Mike Keane. "My head is like a tomato."
Nieuwendyk redirected a 60-foot slap shot by Sergei Zubov past Tommy Salo to end the five-hour, 20-minute marathon at 3:03 a.m. ET Wednesday.
"Salo was playing really well. We knew it wasn't going to be a pretty goal to win it," said Nieuwendyk. "I just went to the net. It hit my leg and went in the corner."
The Oilers' loss in the Western Conference quarter-final series marked the first time since they entered the NHL in 1979 that they exited the postseason without a win. They hadn't been bounced in the first round in a decade.
The game was a blue print of the series. Defying the Oilers' game plan to hit them until they wilted, the Stars rallied in the third period in each of the previous three games to put the Oilers away by one goal.
"I can't ask for more. We can't play any better. I couldn't be more proud of these guys," said Oilers coach Ron Low.
When asked about rumors he may be finished as coach of the team, he said: "All I know is if a team is an extension of the coach, I wouldn't mind coaching these guys for a while."
Dallas coach Ken Hitchcock said: "We had to really push the envelope emotionally and physically (in the series)," adding it will make them stronger going into the second round. He said the Oilers came out strong early in the overtime but "from about three quarters of the way through the first overtime we started to play well.
"When you get in a game like this, halfway through the second overtime the guys were numb."
Dallas finally got some life out of its power play. Ranked sixth in the regular season, the unit was 0-for-19 in the series until Nieuwendyk scored with the advantage late in the second.
Jamie Langenbrunner scored again with the man advantage at 11:05 of the third to send the game into overtime.
Ryan Smyth and Todd Marchant scored for the Oilers, who lost first-line center Doug Weight to a concussion five minutes into the game.
The win spoiled the return of Edmonton's favorite adopted son. Wayne Gretzky was a surprise guest to drop the ceremonial first puck.
It was the first time he'd been back in Skyreach Centre since retiring earlier this month. The sold-out crowd of 17,100 gave him a thunderous ovation and chanted "Gretzky! Gretzky!"
Players on both teams pounded their sticks on the ice in tribute. He stayed for two minutes, waved a few times then left the ice, not returning for an encore. Having to catch a plane, he left the building midway through the third overtime. Minutes later, the old Oiler playoff magic followed him out.
#2 COLORADO AVALANCHE vs #7 SAN JOSE SHARKS
Series tied 2-2
Next Game: Saturday May 1st, 1999 7:30pm at Colorado
The formidable two-game deficit is gone. The rejuvenated San Jose Sharks can afford to get a little greedy.
Vincent Damphousse scored two short-handed goals in the final period as the Sharks guaranteed themselves another home playoff game with a 7-3 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Friday night. The best-of-7 Western Conference series is tied at two games apiece. Game 5 is in Denver on Saturday night with Game 6 scheduled for Monday in San Jose. The visiting team has won all four games.
"We feel really good about our situation now," Damphousse said. "It's a lot better than coming in here two down. We know we're going back to San Jose, and we want to be in a good position going there. Our key now is to win the game (Saturday) and have a chance to win (the series) at home."
In tying the series, San Jose handed Colorado its fourth straight home playoff loss dating to a first-round collapse against Edmonton last year. Up 3-1 in that series, the Avalanche lost two at home and one on the road.
"We got embarrassed," Colorado captain Joe Sakic said. "We can't worry about what's happened in the past. We have the best-of-3 and two games at home. We have to make sure we take advantage of that."
Alex Korolyuk had a goal and two assists for the Sharks, who trailed 2-0 midway through the second period, but scored the game's final four goals -- all coming within a 10:07 span of the third period.
The Avalanche, who played a sloppy final 20 minutes, finished 0-for-7 on the power play, committed three turnovers that led to San Jose goals and find themselves battling to get out of the first round.
"They outplayed us in the third. I'm obviously not satisfied, but the last thing that we need right now is to panic," Colorado coach Bob Hartley said. "We said from the start that it would be a hard-fought series, and that those guys wouldn't go down easily."
Mike Vernon finished with 32 saves for San Jose. Patrick Roy stopped 19 of 25 shots before being pulled late in the final period.
Korolyuk gave the Sharks a 4-3 lead 1:54 into the third as he controlled the puck behind the net and then squeezed a shot between Roy and the right goal post.
The Avalanche had a chance to tie the game on their fifth power play of the night, but Damphousse chased down his own clearing pass for a short-handed goal on a breakaway 2:23 later.
Damphousse made Roy look silly as he faked a backhand shot and put a forehand into the open net when Roy went to his knees.
"It's my only move," Damphousse said. "Sometimes I shoot, and you try to throw different things at goalies. I beat Patrick tonight, but a lot of times he stopped me, so it's not always the same scenario."
Mike Ricci, who had four points in Game 3, scored on a rebound at 8:55, and Damphousse completed the meltdown as he stole the puck and beat backup goaltender Craig Billington at 12:01.
"We played 30-35 minutes," Avalanche defenseman Adam Foote said. "It sure is embarrassing. We should be real upset about ourselves."
Despite squandering a 5-on-3 advantage to open the second period, the Avalanche seemingly had the game in control after Foote's backhander gave them a 2-0 lead at 4:53.
The momentum shifted when Tony Granato picked off Roy's clearing pass at the blue line, skated around defenseman Greg de Vries and beat Roy at 9:38.
"That goal gave us a spark," Sharks coach Darryl Sutter said. "... You can say all you want about the great character of our team. This team is talented and it shows up for every period."
Bill Houlder tied the game on a power play 28 seconds later when his shot from the slot went between Ricci's legs into the net.
Colorado regrouped as Theo Fleury corralled a rebound in the right circle and set up Milan Hejduk's second goal of the playoffs, but San Jose converted a two-minute 5-on-3 to tie the game 1:59 before the second intermission.
Adam Deadmarsh scored the only goal of the first period as Colorado outshot San Jose 9-3.
#3 DETROIT RED WINGS vs #6 ANAHIEM MIGHTY DUCKS
Detriot wins 4-0
Next Game: Detroit advances to the next round
Anaheim coach Craig Hartsburg offered some advice to the next team the Detroit Red Wings face in the playoffs. "Whoever it is, they will have to play a series where they don't make any mistakes, and get great goaltending," Hartsburg said Tuesday night after the Red Wings beat the Mighty Ducks 3-0 to sweep their opening playoff series.
"Detroit is playing with passion, playing gritty, great hockey. They're going to be hard to beat. They have no weaknesses. They're the best team I've seen since I've been coaching in this league."
The two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Red Wings, who needed three overtime games to sweep a playoff series with Anaheim two years ago, this time sailed through the four games.
Capping it off, Tomas Holmstrom snapped a scoreless tie with his goal at 16:44 of the second period, and Chris Osgood stopped 31 shots as Detroit wrapped up the series.
Brendan Shanahan and Slava Kozlov added third-period goals.
"We got great goaltending. Chris Osgood won the game in the first period," Detroit coach Scotty Bowman said, referring to Anaheim's 16 shots in the first 20 minutes.
Bowman added, "We caught a big break this morning when we found out (Paul) Kariya wasn't going to be able to play. If they had played as well as they did tonight and had Kariya, they probably would have won the game."
Despite playing without the high-scoring Kariya, out with a broken foot, and defensemen Stu Grimson and Ruslan Salei, the Mighty Ducks kept it close through the first two periods before the Red Wings finally took control.
"They played a lot better tonight," Bowman said of the Ducks. "They really forced the play in the first period. That was a good wakeup call for us.
"In the third period, I think they just ran out of gas."
Said Hartsburg: "We showed character and heart and we battled. We're obviously disappointed, but we lost to a team that's probably going to win the Stanley Cup."
Holmstrom scored 24 seconds into a power play, with Marty McInnis off for slashing. Anaheim's Matt Cullen, just past the blue line in the Mighty Ducks' end, had difficulty controlling a pass and Holmstrom took the puck off his stick and broke up the middle.
With Cullen desperately hanging on him, Holmstrom reached with the stick in his right hand, scooted the puck to his left and knocked in a backhander past sprawling goaltender Guy Hebert.
The goal was Holmstrom's third of the series and Nicklas Lidstrom, who played sparkling defense throughout the four games, chipped in with the assist, his sixth.
Shanahan gave the Red Wings breathing room with his third goal of the series, at 11:51 of the third period, then Kozlov scored with 5:03 left, his second goal.
Osgood, meanwhile, logged the sixth playoff shutout of his career.
"They took it to us in the first period. We had to stick with them," Osgood said. "When we scored the first goal, that was the key play.
"After that, I knew I had to do my job. I don't enjoy being the center of attention, but I do enjoy doing my job and helping us win." Kariya sustained his injury when he blocked a shot with his right foot in Game 3 on Sunday.
Grimson was suspended for one game checking Kris Draper into the glass from behind in Game 3, drawing a five-minute match penalty for deliberate attempt to injure. Salei sat out with a shoulder injury.
The action was furious in the opening period, with the teams combining for 30 shots. Marty McInnis had four of the Mighty Ducks' 16 at Osgood.
Things quieted down considerably in the second period, with Anaheim managing nine shots and the Red Wings seven.
Detroit finished the game with 38 shots.
The Red Wings won 5-3 and 5-1 in Detroit, then took the third game 4-2 in Anaheim.
The Mighty Ducks, who have made it to the playoffs just twice since coming into the NHL in 1993, have been eliminated by Detroit in four games both times.
Kariya had one goal and three assists in the first three games of the series this year. He was third in the NHL in points with 101 and third in assists with 62 during the regular season.
#4 PHOENIX COYOTES vs #5 ST. LOUIS BLUES
Phoenix leads 3-1
Next Game: Friday April 30th, 1999 10:30pm at Phoenix
Another memorable postseason moment from Dallas Drake helped the Phoenix Coyotes climb closer to their first playoff series victory in 12 years.
The Coyotes' principal pest snapped a second-period tie with a deflection on a power play, giving his team a 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues and a commanding lead in their first-round series Tuesday night.
He didn't seem to mind that teammate Teppo Numminen had been given credit for the goal until after the game and officials had a chance to review the play closer.
"I did get a piece of it, yeah," Drake said. "That's all right. Who cares who gets it? This is as big as it gets."
Phoenix leads the series 3-1 and can close it out at home Friday night. The Coyotes haven't won a playoff series since they were the Winnipeg Jets in 1987 and beat Calgary 4-2.
"We haven't done anything yet," Drake said. "We've proven we can beat them, obviously, but there's a long ways to go."
Greg Adams also scored and Nikolai Khabibulin made 27 saves for the Coyotes, who have won three straight -- each by one goal -- since losing the opener at home.
The Blues' Pascal Rheaume got his first goal of the playoffs and Grant Fuhr rebounded nicely from his Game 3 disaster, when he allowed four goals on 10 shots in a 5-4 loss. Fuhr didn't allow a goal until the Coyotes' 12th shot and he made 18 saves.
But the Coyotes put the clamps on high-scoring defenseman Al MacInnis, who entered the game with an NHL-leading eight points in the playoffs. MacInnis got little room to maneuver and Coyotes captain Keith Tkachuk blocked two of his shots.
"He's got a hard shot and it doesn't feel great all the time, but you've got to do it," Tkachuk said. "He's the key to that team on the power play, so whenever he shoots you've got to try to get in his way."
Teammates marveled at Tkachuk's bravery.
"Keith went down in front of him about 10 times just to stop him from shooting or force him to shoot wide," Drake said. "If you want to go down in front of that shot you've got to be a little weird upstairs, because he's got a cannon."
Just as in the regular season, home ice was no advantage for the Blues. St. Louis closed the season on a 14-4-1 road run, but was only 18-17-6 at the Kiel Center. That road finish and the closeness of the games are giving the Blues hope.
"I don't think we have to make too many more changes," coach Joel Quenneville said. "The games are that fine, and it's not a hopeless situation."
Geoff Courtnall was in the penalty box for roughing when Drake scored his third goal, and sixth point, of the playoffs when he deflected Teppo Numminen's shot from the point with 34.8 seconds to go in the second. Phoenix had been 2-for-26 on the power play in the series before then.
Drake leads the Coyotes in scoring in the playoffs after getting only nine goals in the regular season.
Fuhr got a huge ovation when he was introduced as the starter and an even bigger one when he made a diving save to thwart Mike Stapleton on a shorthanded breakaway at 3:25 of the second. He also made a nice spread-eagle save to stop Adams on a 2-on-1 break at about the five-minute mark of the second.
Khabibulin was at his best in the two minutes after Rheaume scored, stopping a couple of chances from close in. Jyrki Lumme saved a goal in the first period when he got a piece of the puck on what appeared to be an easy tap-in for Turgeon. He stuffed two more Turgeon efforts in the final minute
"Our goalie is the best, he's the man," Tkachuk said. "He's unknown around the league and that's great. He's going to make the big saves for us."
Turgeon, who had been a team-worst minus-5 for the series, set up the game's first goal while flat on his back. Getting dragged down by Lumme near the net didn't stop Turgeon from making a backhand centering pass to Rheaume -- St. Louis' lone lineup change -- for a tap-in at 5:58 of the second period.
St. Louis missed a chance to clear the puck, enabling Adams to tie it at the 11-minute mark off a setup from Robert Reichel. Rick Tocchet hopped out of the crease just in time.
"(Chris) Pronger kind of helped me because he kind of cross-checked me and it gave me momentum to get out," Tocchet said. "That was close, real close."