Stars Earned Home-Ice Edge, and Now They Get to Use It

When they had to, the Dallas Stars certainly played like the best team in the NHL.

The Stars made sure there would be a Game 7 in the Western Conference finals, forcing a one-game showdown in Dallas with a 4-1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday night.

Jamie Langenbrunner scored two goals in the final 20 minutes as the Stars, playing more like the team that won the Presidents’ Trophy with the best record in the NHL, pulled away in the third period.

Game 7 will be Friday night in Dallas, where the Stars are 6-2 in the playoffs--with both losses coming in this series. Colorado is 3-6 at home but 8-1 on the road.

The winner will advance to the Stanley Cup finals against the Eastern Conference champion Buffalo Sabres.

It’s only fitting that the wild Western Conference finals will be decided by one last game.

“I don’t see any advantage between these two teams,” Dallas Coach Ken Hitchcock said. “Every game goes down to the last 10 minutes. It’s unbelievable. It’s up for grabs.”

Langenbrunner said the determined Stars “just stayed with it.”

“I was the fortunate one that got the bounce at the end, but we played hard all night and got to live another day,” he said.

The Avalanche missed an excellent chance to advance to the Stanley Cup finals for the second time in four seasons.

“There’s no easy road to the Stanley Cup,” Avalanche Coach Bob Hartley said. “This round is a classic example.”

With the score tied at 1, the third period took on a sudden-death atmosphere, and the Stars applied the pressure when Langenbrunner poked home a rebound on Joe Nieuwendyk’s shot from the slot at 6:49.

Langenbrunner, who had 12 goals all season, has eight in the playoffs and three game-winners. His latest prompted Colorado goalie Patrick Roy to throw his stick in disgust as the Stars celebrated in front of him.

“I made a great first save,,” Roy said. “I think it hit a stick and bounced back under me, and then the stick of Langenbrunner was under me and I could not put my pad on the ice. He just pushed it into the empty net.”

After failing to convert a breakaway chance 10 minutes later, Langenbrunner added another goal with a wide-open flip on a power play with 2:45 remaining.

Langenbrunner’s slap shot came after Colorado’s Claude Lemieux drew a costly penalty for charging into Dallas goaltender Ed Belfour, who landed hard on his back but finished with 26 saves.

“The third goal was a sigh of relief,” Hitchcock said. “I finally got my hands out of my pockets.”