WESTERN SEMI-FINALS
GAME SUMMARIES
GAME 4:
#1 DALLAS STARS vs #5 ST. LOUIS BLUES
Series tied 2-2
Next Game: Saturday May 15th, 1999 7:30pm at Dallas
The St. Louis Blues are loving life on the tightrope after beating the Dallas Stars two straight games in overtime.
Pierre Turgeon stole a clearing pass and scored at 5:52 of the extra period as the underdog Blues beat the Stars 3-2 to even the series at two games apiece Wednesday night.
"He made a great play getting through when the space was open," said right wing Scott Young, whose forechecking on defenseman Sergei Zubov forced the play. "Just to hear the crowd erupt is a great feeling."
It was the third straight overtime in the series and the Blues' sixth overtime in 11 playoff games. They've won four of them.
"We don't want to be in that situation too often," Turgeon said. "We'd like to be ahead a few goals, but this is going to happen in the playoffs. It's always tight and there aren't many scoring chances."
Turgeon picked off Zubov's clearing effort near the center line. He skated into the slot before beating Ed Belfour with a high wrist shot, his ninth shot of the game, for his fourth goal and 11th point of the playoffs.
Zubov wouldn't talk about the play, but his coach was critical.
"You can't have that," coach Ken Hitchcock said. "He knows it, we all know it. There was nobody there. The lane was up the wall. It was wide open. As a matter of fact, if we get it up the wall, it would have been a three-on-two."
But fellow defenseman Richard Matvichuk defended Zubov.
"Everybody makes mistakes," Matvichuk said. "If there were no mistakes made, every game would be 0-0. You can't blame anybody."
Turgeon's overtime goal clinched the Blues' first-round series victory over Phoenix. This one gave them confidence heading into Game 5 Saturday night in Dallas.
"I'm tired, but I'm excited," Blues center Craig Conroy said. "It's like starting all over again."
The Stars prevailed in Game 2 on Joe Nieuwendyk's second goal of the game, and the Blues answered with Pavol Demitra's goal at 2:43 of overtime in Game 3 Monday night, also a 3-2 victory.
Rookie Jochen Hecht and Geoff Courtnall also scored for the Blues, who have gone to overtime in six of their 11 playoff games and won four of them. St. Louis was only one game above .500 in the regular season at home, but has won both home games against the Stars, the NHL's regular-season champions.
Mike Modano and Jere Lehtinen each had a goal and an assist for the Stars, who had won all six of their playoff games before coming to St. Louis. Modano emerged from a two-game funk during which he totaled one shot and Lehtinen rebounded nicely after missing the last half of Game 3 with a knee injury.
Dallas continued to struggle on the power play, going 0-for-5 for a league-worst 3-for-43 overall in the playoffs.
The Stars missed a chance to take the lead with 5:36 to go when Pat Verbeek's apparent goal was disallowed because Jamie Langenbrunner's skate was in the crease.
"It's either a goal or it's not," Verbeek said. "We have to live with what the rules are now. Those are the breaks."
Modano scored on the Stars' first shot at 59 seconds. He broke past Chris Pronger and beat Grant Fuhr from the slot for his third goal of the playoffs.
Hecht tied it with his second career NHL goal and second in two games, off Demitra's feed from behind the net at 5:02. Hecht and Demitra both were behind the net at one point and Hecht, scoreless in three regular-season games with the Blues, cleared some space for himself before converting the pass.
Courtnall put the Blues ahead with a power-play goal from an almost impossible angle. He was stopped on a break-in, but regained possession on the red line at the boards and flung the puck at the net. On the way it deflected off Modano, and Belfour waved helplessly as it entered the net.
"It was nice to see that one in the back of the net," said Courtnall, who said he had been trying to center the puck for an onrushing Young.
The Stars struck early again in the third, with Modano eluding a check and then pulling Fuhr out of the net. He fed the puck from behind the net to Lehtinen, who had only Turgeon to beat for his fourth playoff goal at 40 seconds.
#2 COLORADO AVALANCHE vs #3 DETROIT RED WINGS
Series tied 2-2
Next Game: Sunday May 16th, 1999 2pm at Colorado
The Colorado Avalanche continued to make themselves at home on the road and, suddenly, Detroit's shot at a Threepeat appears in some danger.
Colorado got another strong game from goaltender Patrick Roy and Adam Deadmarsh scored twice as the Avs defeated the Red Wings 6-2 Thursday night to even their second-round series at two games each.
The Avs played a trapping defense, which has made Detroit seem like a different team since taking a 4-0 win in Game 2.
"Tonight was a lot easier for me, that's for sure," Roy said. "Our defense did a great job, even though they outshot us. I thought we were fantastic tonight. We played well in every part of the game."
Roy, who made 44 saves in the third game, turned away 31 shots in Game 4 of the best-of-7 Western Conference series.
"I don't think we've changed much from the first two games," Roy said. "We are just playing better hockey."
Meanwhile, Detroit goaltender Bill Ranford failed to make it through the second period for the second straight game.
Peter Forsberg had a goal and two assists. Chris Drury, Milan Hejduk and Valeri Kamensky also scored for Colorado.
Slava Kozlov scored twice for the Red Wings.
Ranford, starting his fourth straight game in place of the injured Chris Osgood, who is out with a sprained right knee, let three of the first 14 shots he faced get past him. He was replaced by Norm Maracle at 14:04 of the second with Detroit trailing 3-0.
"I don't ever recall being pulled two games in a row," said Ranford, the 1990 NHL playoff MVP with Edmonton. "But, you can't worry about the goalie."
In a 5-3 loss in Game 3, Ranford let five of the first 23 shots get past him and he was lifted 5:05 into the second period.
"They told me it wasn't so much me," Ranford said. "They felt we were flat, and maybe that would give us a jump-start."
But, it didn't.
The Red Wings, trying to win their third consecutive Stanley Cup championship, had won 11 straight playoff games -- including the last five last year -- and were up 2-0 on Colorado before returning home.
The series continues Sunday afternoon in Denver, where the Avs are 1-4 during these playoffs, compared with 5-0 on the road. Game 6 will be May 18 back at Joe Louis Arena.
"All year, or at least since I've been here, we've played our best hockey on the road," Colorado forward Theoren Fleury said. "I think we do a better job of simplifying things on the road. We've got to do that at home."
Drury's goal, his second of the playoffs, gave Colorado a 1-0 lead 1:28 into an otherwise quiet first period. The puck was bouncing in the crease and Detroit defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom was unable to clear it for the fallen Ranford.
Deadmarsh and Hejduk scored in the second period, during which the Red Wings went 8:34 before getting their first shot on goal. The faithful in Joe Louis Arena were booing by the end of the period.
Deadmarsh scored his fifth goal at 7:07, swooping in on the right side to tap in the rebound of Peter Forsberg's shot.
Hejduk, on another assist by Forsberg, made it 3-0 with a power-play goal, his fourth, at 14:04 and Maracle replaced Ranford.
"When you're that many goals behind, it seems like you're skating in quicksand," Detroit forward Brendan Shanahan said.
Forsberg, who has points in nine of Colorado's 10 playoff games, scored his third goal at 8:21 of the third period. Kamensky made it 5-0 with his first goal with 8:32 left in the game.
"It's not every day that you are going to be able to come into this building and score 11 goals in two games," Forsberg said. "We are doing all of the little things well right now, and the puck is going in for us."
Kozlov scored his fifth on a power play with 5:20 remaining, Deadmarsh countered with 3:24 left and Kozlov scored again with 43 seconds to go.