Stars Take 3rd Straight From Wings

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

December 19, 1998 / 1:27 AM EST / CBS Sportsline

It wasn't so long ago that the Dallas Stars couldn't buy a win in Joe Louis Arena. Now they've won twice in five weeks with a smothering defensive style that strongly suggests they could very well end the Detroit Red Wings' run of NHL supremacy.

Ed Belfour made 24 saves as Dallas beat the Red Wings 3-1 Friday night, the Stars' third straight victory over the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions this season.

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While extending their own unbeaten streak to six (4-0-2), the Stars ended Detroit's six-game home winning streak that started after Dallas beat the Red Wings 3-1 on Nov. 13. The Stars were just 1-17-2 in their previous 20 visits to Detroit, including playoffs, before that.

Pat Verbeek, Jere Lehtinen and Brett Hull scored the Dallas goals, but the Stars won the game with a defense that frustrated the Red Wings at practically every turn.

"They're a great shooting team, so you want to take away the middle, take away the neutral zone," Stars center Mike Modano said. "We've done that the last three games. You don't see (Steve) Yzerman and (Sergei) Fedorov have the whole neutral zone to carry the puck. "

"We've been forcing them to dump it in, and they're not comfortable doing that. They like to have possession of the puck coming in."

The Stars, who have one game remaining against the Red Wings, clinched a season series over Detroit for just the second time in seven seasons. They've outscored Detroit 11-4 in their three meetings thus far.

But Dallas coach Ken Hitchcock remembers well that last year his team was seeded ahead of Detroit in the playoffs before the Red Wings beat the Stars in six games to take the Western Conference finals.

"It doesn't matter unil the end of the season," Hitchcock said. "Right now it's more for us than for them. They already know how to get there. These wins are building blocks for us. We need them to gain confidence."

The Red Wings just managed

Derian Hatcher (left) and the Stars left their mark on Brendan Shanahan and the Wings. (AP)

to avoid their second shutout loss in three games when Vyacheslav Kozlov scored with 2:02 remaining.

That ruined Belfour's bid for his 43rd career shutout. He didn't have that many tough saves because his defense blocked a lot of shots in front of him whenever Detroit managed to skate the puck into the Stars' zone.

"We had a game plan, but I guess we just didn't realize what we had to do," Fedorov said. "They always had a player on our player whenever the puck was in the neutral zone."

Detroit goalie Chris Osgood made 23 saves.

Verbeek scored the only goal of the first period, his seventh. Mike Keane skated in from the right side and took a shot that glanced off Osgood before it hit the right post and sat in the crease. Verbeek skated in from the left side and easily poked the loose puck into the net at 7:04.

"(Tony) Hrkac and Verbeek have had real good chemistry, and two games ago we put Keane on their line," Hitchcock said. "They play with position and patience."

Lehtinen made it 2-0 with A third-period power-play goal 17 seconds after McCarty was sent off for interference. Mike Sydor made a great pass from the left point to Mike Modano in the right circle, then Lehtinen took Modano's pass in the slot and beat Osgood at 3:17.

Hull scored with 5:44 remaining, triggering a mass exodus by the capacity crowd. Those who left missed Kozlov's goal along with his ejection on a game misconduct for elbowing Joe Nieuwendyk 14 seconds later.

"The last couple of years we've been a team that responds well to challenges," Detroit's Brendan Shanahan said. "Now we've given ourselves one with this team."