Injured Hull Doubtful for Stars

Mike Modano’s wrist is fine but Brett Hull’s groin is sore, leaving the Dallas Stars to face the likelihood Hull will not be in the lineup when the Stanley Cup finals resume Tuesday at Marine Midland Arena.

The real question, however, is whether the Stars will miss him.

With Modano at about 70% efficiency Saturday and without Hull after a first-period groin strain sent him to the locker room, the Stars rallied for a 2-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres and took a 2-1 series lead. Center Joe Nieuwendyk picked up the slack by scoring twice, and the Stars smothered the Sabres with a classic exhibition of shot-blocking and backchecking.

“Our team has really pointed at the end-game here. A lot of us feel like no matter how good this team might be for the next four, five years, with some of the young impact players we have, we might never, ever get a chance like this again,” Dallas Coach Ken Hitchcock said. “We just want nothing to get in our way of giving ourselves the opportunity based on our effort.

“We really feel confident that if our effort is there and our desire to compete every shift is there, we can put that will onto the other team.”

If they are to keep imposing their will on the Sabres, they won’t have Hull to help them for five to seven days. Hitchcock said Sunday that Hull is doubtful for Game 4 and may not return until Game 5 Thursday at Dallas, or, if necessary, Game 6 Saturday. That could be bad news for the Sabres because Hitchcock may replace Hull with a defensive winger who can free Modano and Jere Lehtinen to take more offensive chances than they do with Hull.

“Mo had a lot of fun in the playoffs last year when we just turned him loose,” Hitchcock said. “I think if we put a defensive player there, then we’re aiming to turn him and Lehtinen loose, and he’s pretty excited about that.”

Hitchcock’s options are moving Modano to the left side and inserting Tony Hrkac at center, or moving Darryl Sydor from defense to left wing. Sydor has taken occasional turns up front for the Stars, and before that for the Kings.

“He was listed on a junior team in Canada as a center/left winger and some coach screwed him up and put him on defense,” Hitchcock said. “That guy was me . . . He likes playing there now because he feels he can get even with everybody who has taken runs at him.”

Sydor, who watches videos with the forwards, is confident he can step up. “I don’t think I have to change my game that much,” he said. “It will be like having another defenseman, just a few feet up. With Mo and Jere, I’ll just hang back and not let any rushes happen against us.”

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The Sabres know they must improve in virtually every area and may change their line combinations to get center Curtis Brown away from Joe Nieuwendyk, who burned Brown several times. “If it was the best of three, I would be really scared right now,” Coach Lindy Ruff said. “But it’s not. It’s the best of seven . . . If we’re a team that deserves a Stanley Cup, we should be able to win three out of four games. If not, we are not good enough to win it. Personally, I still think we are.”

Their first mission is to generate offense by finding a way to get shots past Dallas’ shot-blocking forwards and defensemen. Since they can’t seem to find a way to beat the Stars in that area, the Sabres may copy them. “I think we can learn from them,” Brown said.

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Hitchcock often praises his veterans for their leadership and character, but he found coaching an older team isn’t easy.

“There are a lot of positives but there are a lot of areas that have conflict in them,” he said. “A lot of times the conflict is in when things go wrong. Because of these players’ experiences, they have some very strong ideas on which direction we’re going to point the ship.

“The thing I like about this group is that they’re supportive of us as coaches when the ship isn’t going right. Especially people like [Craig] Ludwig and [Guy] Carbonneau, who really stand up on our behalf, and [Mike] Keane too . . . As rewarding as this season has been, it has been extremely challenging because when you coach an older team, there is a lot of different opinions and they are very strong.”

However, he said tension never boiled over to rebellion, as was rumored.

“That will come out after we’re done, what really happened,” Sydor said. “Nothing did happen and we all just kind of looked at it and laughed. There were jokes made and stuff said and pucks shot at him but it was just in fun. It brings the team together. It made our team stronger mentally.”

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The Stars are 8-2 when their opponents score first, remarkable considering the rarity of comebacks during the playoffs.

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Nieuwendyk on Saturday tied Joe Sakic’s record with his sixth game-winning goal in one playoff year. Sakic set the record in 1996, when the Avalanche won the Cup and Sakic was voted the most valuable player.

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Stanley Cup Finals

Dallas leads series, 2-1

RESULTS

Buffalo 3, Dallas 2 (OT)

Dallas 4, Buffalo 2

Dallas 2, Buffalo 1

SCHEDULE

Tuesday at Buffalo, 5 p.m.

Thursday at Dallas, 5 p.m.

*Saturday at Buffalo, 5 p.m.

*June 22 at Dallas, 5 p.m.

*-if necessary, all times Pacific