Oilers Even Series With 4-0 Victory

Curtis Joseph finally got the Dallas Stars’ number. It was 0.

Joseph, beaten five times by Dallas this season, was helped by a smothering defense in a 4-0 shutout Friday night as the Edmonton Oilers evened their Western Conference quarterfinal series at a game apiece at Dallas.

“The guys helped me out tremendously tonight, clearing it out in front of the net and clearing away rebounds,” Joseph said. “I didn’t have to do much in the first period. That really got us going. We’re happy with the split.”

Joseph, who had 25 saves, had six regular-season shutouts but lost to Dallas in four regular-season games and was defeated, 5-3, on Wednesday night in the first game of the series. He was 0-5 in playoff games against the Stars.

“It’s a great confidence-builder to have CuJo play like he did,” said center Doug Weight. “He’s been our best player all year and the most consistent goalie I’ve ever been around.”

Edmonton had two power-play goals, the second early in the third period on a 50-foot slap shot by Boris Mironov that whipped past a screened Andy Moog. Ryan Smyth scored on a breakaway to make it 4-0 with 12:53 remaining, sending Moog to the bench in favor of Arturs Irbe.

Mariusz Czerkawski scored an unassisted goal on a deflection to give the Oilers a 2-0 lead in the second period. The Stars had a goal taken away by television replay when Benoit Hogue was ruled to have been in the crease when he scored on a rebound shot.

The Oilers peppered Moog with 13 shots in the first period and finally broke through on a power play. Weight fed Mike Grier at the crease, and Grier beat the besieged Moog to the glove side 14:51 into the game.

Dallas went scoreless on seven power play attempts because of Joseph’s good work, bringing boos from the sellout crowd of 16,924. Joseph made three sparkling second-period saves when Dallas had a two-man advantage.

“We counted 15 scoring chances on our power play,” said Dallas Coach Ken Hitchcock. “That’s too many not to score. We’ve got to finish those chances if we expect to win.”

Dallas is 0 for 12 on the power play for the series.

Detroit 2, St. Louis 1--Third-period goals by Kris Draper and Larry Murphy brought the Red Wings back for the victory at Detroit, evening their Western Conference series at 1-1.

Draper ended five periods of dominance by St. Louis goalie Grant Fuhr with a short-handed goal at 4:05 of the third. Draper took a pass from Brendan Shanahan, skated up the right side around defenseman Igor Kravchuk, and snapped off a shot that got past Fuhr on the glove side for a 1-1 tie.

Murphy gave Detroit a 2-1 lead at 7:49 of the third. Fuhr blocked Martin Lapointe’s shot from the right circle, but the puck went right to Murphy, who put it over Fuhr’s right shoulder.

Colorado 3, Chicago 1--Patrick Roy tied the NHL record for playoff victories by a goaltender as the Avalanche took a 2-0 lead in their Western Conference series at Denver.

Roy posted his 88th playoff victory, tying the New York Islanders’ Billy Smith.

Mike Keane, Sandis Ozolinsh and Claude Lemieux all scored for a second consecutive game as the defending Stanley Cup champions posted their seventh consecutive postseason victory.

Chicago dramatically reduced its penalties from 22 in the series opener to three but remained ineffective on the power play, going 0 for five.

Keane and Ozolinsh, who scored the first two goals in the series opener, did it again--getting two goals in the first 5:06.

The Blackhawks are 4-29 when losing the first two games of a series.