No Love Lost Between Oilers, Stars

May 8, 1998 / 9:42 PM EDT / CBS/AP

It didn't take long for this to become a bad blood series.

An ugly hit by Grant Marshall on Edmonton's Kelly Buchberger in the third period of Dallas' 3-1 victory on Thursday night triggered Oilers threats of retaliation.

Marshall hit Buchberger in the eye with the butt-end of his stick with 6:16 left and got a game-misconduct penalty. He also got a five-minute major penalty for elbowing, but the Oilers were unable to capitalize on the power play.

Marshall was fined $1,000 by the NHL, but was not suspended and will play in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinal series. The way the Oilers are talking, the Stars will have to pay on the ice anyway.

Edmonton general manager Glen Sather said "the part that surprised me was that he (Marshall) made a comment to Mike Grier that `Bucky has been slashing all night, so he deserved it."'

Sather added sternly: "We'll see how we react."

Despite a swollen eye, Buchberger has vowed to play on Saturday night in Game 2 at Reunion Arena.

"I'll let the league deal with Marshall," Buchberger said. "We still have to be disciplined. We took eight penalties and that's unacceptable."

Edmonton coach Ron Low called Marshall's hit "one of the worst I've seen in a long time."

Added Oilers center Doug Weight: "Bucky was lucky. He could have lost an eye. Playoff hockey is supposed to be rough and tough. But this was not part of playoff hockey."

Ed Belfour won the goalie battle in the first game.

Belfour turned away 31 shots but Edmonton goalie Curtis Joseph let three of 14 shots get by him.

Joseph said the Oilers can't be counted out yet.

"Colorado owned us all season and we came back and beat them," Joseph said.

Dallas knows about the Oilers' comeback ability. Edmonton knocked the Stars out last year in the first round, with Joseph getting two shutouts.

Joseph was stung twice by defenseman Sergei Zubov on long slap shots Thursday night as Dallas won the first game of the Western Conference semifinal series.

"I've just got to keep my chin up," said Joseph, who had consecutive shutouts in the Oilers' upset of Colorado. "The key to the game was their early goals. We had to fight back from that all night."

"I thought," Low said, "that likely in the first 10 minutes we were still in Denver and maybe still celebrating."

Mike Keane added an insurance goal early in the third period as Modano got his third assist.

"Two goals early got us going," Zubov said. "It felt pretty good. It's good to start on a good note. Eddie kept us in the game in the secod and third periods."

Modano said Belfour is the Stars' modest hero.

"Eddie doesn't like the limelight," Modano said. "He doesn't talk much. He does his job in a quiet way."

Game 2 may not be too quiet, not after what happened to Buchberger.

"This could be a long, interesting series," Dallas coach Ken Hitchcock said.