WESTERN SEMI-FINALS
GAME DAY PREVIEWS
GAME 3:
#1 DALLAS STARS vs #5 ST. LOUIS BLUES
Dallas leads 2-0
Game time: Monday May 10th, 1999 7:30pm at St. Louis
The top-seeded Dallas Stars look to continue their roll through the postseason and push the St. Louis Blues to the brink of elimination tonight in Game Three of their Western Conference semifinal series.
The Stars opened this series with a 3-0 blanking Thursday but had a much more difficult time in Game Two. However, they matched a franchise record with their sixth straight playoff win on Joe Nieuwendyk's goal at 8:22 of overtime.
Dallas also won six consecutive postseason games in 1981 before losing to the New York Islanders in the Stanley Cup finals as the Minnesota North Stars.
Five of Dallas' six postseason victories have been by one goal, due partly to a power play which is just 2-for-33 in the playoffs.
Left wing Brett Hull returns to St. Louis for just the second time tonight since signing a $17 million contract with the Stars in the offseason. Hull sat out Dallas' first visit to the Kiel Center on November 21 with a bruised kidney but scored in a 5-2 loss April 3.
With two goals and one assist in Game Two, Nieuwendyk leads the team with five goals and seven points in the playoffs. Left wing Jamie Langenbrunner, center Mike Modano and defenseman Sergei Zubov each have six points.
Goaltender Ed Belfour had his worst performance of the playoffs Saturday, allowing four goals on 30 shots. Overall, he has surrendered 11 goals on 157 shots in six games.
The Blues already have shown they are capable of coming back. They trailed Phoenix three games to one in the conference quarterfinals before winning the final three contests, including Game Seven in overtime.
St. Louis needs a better effort from goaltender Grant Fuhr, who has been, for the most part, very sharp throughout these playoffs. Fuhr was beaten five times on just 25 shots in Game Two.
One bright spot from Saturday's loss was the play of right wing Pavol Demitra. The Blues' leading scorer during the regular season, Demitra had two goals in the first eight games of the playoffs before tallying twice in Game Two.
Game Four is Wednesday at St. Louis.
#2 COLORADO AVALANCHE vs #3 DETROIT RED WINGS
Detroit leads 2-0
Game time: Tuesday May 11th, 1999 7:30pm at Detroit
After losing the first two games at home, the Colorado Avalanche are under the gun heading into Detroit.
The Red Wings took a commanding 2-0 lead in the series and extended their postseason winning streak to 11 games with Sunday's 4-0 blanking of the Avalanche.
"We are just playing stupid," said Colorado defenseman Aaron Miller after his team's 4-0 loss in Game Two on Sunday. "They are the two-time Stanley Cup champions for a reason. This is disheartening, it's a lack of effort. No excuses for it. It is just a (very) poor effort. We have to forget about it. We play Game Three just like it was Game One."
Detroit goalie Bill Ranford recorded his first playoff shutout in seven years and captain Steve Yzerman scored twice on his 34th birthday for the Red Wings, who are looking to move closer to becoming the fourth franchise in NHL history to win three straight championships.
Yzerman has already equaled a career-high with eight postseason goals.
Ranford will make his third consecutive start as first-string netminder Chris Osgood continues to be sidelined with an injured knee. But the dropoff has been little if none with the backup between the pipes. Ranford has not allowed a tally in 111 minutes, 44 seconds entering tonight's contest.
The Red Wings will also be without center Igor Larionov, who has a dislocated pinky on his left hand and is expected to miss two games.
Colorado's lack of discipline in Game Two was illustrated in 32 minutes in penalties as opposed to 16 by Detroit, which gave coach Scotty Bowman his 200th career postseason victory -- extending his own record.
Game Four will be played here on Thursday.