Belfour Finally Finds Good Match in Dallas Defense

In case you missed him, Ed Belfour was the solitary man at the end of the ice.

The Mighty Ducks didn’t miss him and that was a problem.

The Stars’ goaltender faced 31 shots in a 4-0 victory Sunday over Anaheim, and you would be hard pressed to come up with one that was memorable for the Ducks. When Anaheim wasn’t being pinned deep in its zone, it posed little threat to Belfour, who gained his fourth shutout of the season, best in the NHL.

“We had some strong outings, right from the goaltender on out,” Star Coach Ken Hitchcock said. “I was very impressed with the way Eddie competed tonight.”

Saturday night at the Forum, Belfour had an easy time against the Kings, facing only 19 shots in a 5-1 victory.

A new day, but the same goaltender and story line for Dallas.

“If I am healthy, I don’t mind playing as many games as they can give me,” he said. “Tonight I felt pretty good, for the most part.”

And Dallas’ forechecking, for the most part, choked the offense out of the Ducks, who struggled to make passes that found anyone other than a Star in the neutral zone.

The Ducks had a late burst of offense with five minutes left in the game. But Teemu Selanne, and just about anyone else the Ducks had counted on for scoring, was forced to make do with a few crumbs.

But Belfour was there to clean that up as well.

“He’s definitely one of the premier goaltenders in the league and you have to make the most your opportunities,” said the Ducks’ Steve Rucchin, who had four shots in the game and none in the third period.

“He did what he had to do and we just didn’t bury any of our chances.”

Credit the Star defense for giving Belfour plenty of room to work and a clear view. That was a problem early this season.

Dallas defenseman were used to going down to block shots for Andy Moog, now in Montreal, and Arturs Irbe, now in Vancouver.

But Belfour wants to do the shot blocking. Just take the man, please, and give him a shot at the puck.

“The guys played a great game tonight. They cleared all the rebounds and let me see all the shots,” said Belfour, 9-3-4 overall and 7-0-2 on the road. “That makes my job a lot easier.”

That and the neutral-zone trap, which enabled the Stars to dictate play in the Ducks’ zone.

“We looked liked Detroit [in the 1995 Stanley Cup Finals] when New Jersey used it,” Duck Coach Pierre Page said. The Devils won the Cup that year, which sent teams to the drawing board to come up with a similar model.

The Stars thought they had a team to make it to the finals last season, finishing first in the Central Division with 104 points. But a quick team from Edmonton knocked Dallas out of the playoffs in the first round.

Enter Belfour, who left San Jose as a free agent over the summer to resume his bid for a Cup in Dallas.

He won 20 or more games for the Blackhawks in six consecutive seasons before that team began to disintegrate last season, prompting Belfour to seek and get a trade.

Problem was, he went to the Sharks, who are not on the fast track for anything good. In San Jose, he was 3-9-0 with a 3.41 goals against average before injuring his back, ending his season.

But free agency enabled him to leave the Bay Area and restore his game in Texas.

“I was used to playing 70-some games and you can’t do that when you are hurt,” said Belfour, who has won the Vezina Trophy (for best goaltender) twice. “Now I am healthy. I’m definitely happy working with the Dallas Stars.”

Even if it is a lonely job.