Stars in Alignment as Defense Shines

Perfect or perfectly appalling, the Dallas Stars’ stifling defensive style has carried them to the Stanley Cup finals.

Playing the kind of game coaches love but can be difficult for fans to appreciate, the Stars on Friday muffled the Colorado Avalanche’s formidable offense in grinding out a 4-1 victory in the seventh game of the Western Conference finals. The Stars, whose only previous trip to the Cup finals was in 1991 as the Minnesota North Stars, will face the Buffalo Sabres starting Tuesday at Dallas’ Reunion Arena.

“I said I came into the decade in the finals and going out of the decade, I’ll be in the finals,” said Dallas center Mike Modano, who was in his second NHL season when the North Stars lost the Cup finals to Pittsburgh in six games. “It’s been a long time waiting, of biting your tongue and not making waves within the organization, of waiting until we got better players.

“There’s been some impatience, but we’ve gotten where we wanted to go.”

They got there slowly, grudgingly molding their individual games to fit Coach Ken Hitchcock’s conservative philosophy. Defense comes first for the Stars--and second, third, fourth and fifth. It’s rarely a thrill a minute watching them--more like a thrill a month.

But they left no room to dispute how well they do what they do or how resilient they were in rebounding from the brink of elimination Tuesday to tie the series and force a seventh game before a roaring crowd of 17,001.

“There are a lot of talented teams in the NHL. There are probably teams with a higher skill level than we have,” Hitchcock said. “Maybe in a year or two our skill level will be higher. But not since I’ve been a coach have I seen a team pull together like this crew. This team takes great pride in not cracking.”

Mike Keane, the prototypal Hitchcock grinder, scored twice Friday and goaltender Ed Belfour held Colorado scoreless until 6:02 remained. Although Belfour faced only 19 shots, his performance in the series should alter his reputation as a big-game choker. He’s 3-0 in Game 7s for his career; Colorado’s Patrick Roy, considered the NHL’s top money goalie, is 2-4.

“It’s a dream come true,” said Belfour, who played on the 1992 Chicago Blackhawk team that was swept by Pittsburgh in the Cup finals. “There’s always going to be doubters. But you don’t worry about it. I know what I can do and my teammates know what I can do, and that’s all that matters.”

Belfour and the Stars came through when it mattered, winning Game 6 at Denver, 4-1, last Tuesday and scoring early Friday. Jamie Langenbrunner energized the crowd when he took a pass from Joe Nieuwendyk and at 8:25 flipped a quick but soft shot past Roy, who may have thought defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh would take Langenbrunner out of the play. Belfour stopped a wrap-around attempt by Peter Forsberg with 30 seconds left in the period, and his teammates rewarded him by preventing any Colorado shots from getting through to him for more than half of the second period.

“We started to push back in the second period,” Hitchcock said. “Our confidence grew and our game got better.”

Capitalizing on a Colorado giveaway, Keane padded the lead to a 2-0 at 11:13 of the second period. That’s a prohibitive difference against the Stars. “They played a great game, and it seemed that every scoring chance they got, they cashed in,” Colorado Coach Bob Hartley said. “Mike Keane once again was exceptional. . . . They deserve lots of credit. They have lots of experience, lots of grit, and I want to wish them luck. They’re a great hockey club.”

Keane, who played with Roy on Cup-winning teams in Montreal in 1993 and Colorado in 1996, bested his former teammate again at 15:18 to complete a two-on-one. Jere Lehtinen’s unassisted goal in the third period inspired fans to wave signs that read, “Bring on Buffalo,” and their enthusiasm was only slightly dampened when Sakic foiled Belfour’s shutout bid at 13:58.

“Whoever said it’s not important to play the seventh game at home is wrong,” said Guy Carbonneau, who did a superb defensive job against Forsberg and held the top playoff scorer to three shots and no points. “I’d rather play here any day.”

They will play before their home fans again Tuesday, while Avalanche players ponder where the series got away from them. “We had our chances in the [sixth] game,” right wing Claude Lemieux said. “We had a chance to win in our building and we didn’t. . . . It’s hard to take because you know it takes a whole training camp and 82 games to get to the playoffs and get back to this spot, and then one game decides it.”

Belfour had complimentary words for the Sabres, but he begged to be allowed to savor Friday’s triumph before contemplating the next round and Buffalo goalie Dominik Hasek, who was his teammate in Chicago. He deserved that much. “Everything is working out the way we want it to,” he said, “and we’ve just got to keep it going.”