Stars’ Belfour Faces 12 Shots in 4-0 Victory

Goaltender Ed Belfour could have made more money on the free-agent market, but opted to join the Dallas Stars because of their strong defense. Belfour is pleased with that decision after two shutouts in his first five starts.

Belfour had to stop only 12 shots Thursday night, the fewest faced by a goalie in franchise history, as the Stars beat the Florida Panthers, 4-0, at Dallas.

“The guys are playing a great defensive game,” said Belfour, who signed with Dallas for $10 million over three years. “It makes your job much easier. You do still have to face a few good scoring chances, so you’ve got to be ready for them.”

Belfour had an easy route to his 33rd career shutout as Dallas’ defense limited Florida to a handful of legitimate scoring chances.

The previous team record for fewest shots by an opponent was 13, set against the Colorado Rockies in 1980.

“Shutouts mean a lot to me because I take great pride in playing my best,” said Belfour, removed from his previous start after allowing three soft goals. “The Dallas Stars take great pride in defensive hockey. So any time you get a shutout, it’s a feather in all of our caps.”

Mike Modano and Todd Harvey had goals in a 21-second span in the third period to lead the Star offense.

From that point the Panthers, playing their third game in four nights and fourth in six, sagged.

“We were obviously tired, traveling back and forth across the country,” Panther Coach Doug MacLean said. “The Stars were on top of their game, and we didn’t have much left in our tanks.”

The Panthers had been 1-0-2 in three previous visits to Dallas.

New York Islanders 5, San Jose 2--Zigmund Palffy had three goals, including a tiebreaking score on a power play, and the New York Islanders beat the Sharks at San Jose.

Robert Reichel added a goal and two assists and Bryan Smolinski scored his first goal of the season, also on a power play, helping the Islanders win for only the second time in six games.

Goaltender Tommy Salo made 23 saves for the Islanders, who ended a three-game winless streak (0-2-1).

Viktor Kozlov and Tony Granato accounted for San Jose’s scores, the fourth time the Sharks have scored two or fewer goals this season.

Though the Sharks outshot the Islanders, 34-25, they went 0 for 8 on the power play and have failed to convert their last 34 chances with the man advantage, two shy of the club record.

In seven games this season, San Jose is only two for 47 on the power play.

Palffy, a 48-goal scorer last season, had been limited to one goal in the previous five games. But he completed his fourth career hat trick with a goal with 4:58 remaining.