Modano Is Talk of Town in Dallas

DALLAS — Star center Mike Modano was too grumpy to talk to his coach Wednesday afternoon, so Ken Hitchcock called him at home that night.

“We’ve had a lot of chats in the time he’s been here and the time we’ve been together,” Modano said, smiling. “He just plain and simple asked me what type of player I was going to be [Thursday], and I told him I was going to be a player that is very involved in every aspect of the game.”

Modano was as good as his word--maybe better. Despite playing with a cast to protect torn ligaments in his left hand, Modano set up goals by Darryl Sydor and Pat Verbeek Thursday to give the Stars a 2-0 victory over the Buffalo Sabres at Reunion Arena and move them within one victory of winning the Stanley Cup.

With a 3-2 series lead, the Stars can become the first of the NHL’s Sunbelt teams to win the Cup when the series returns to Buffalo Saturday for Game 6. A seventh game, if necessary, would be Tuesday at Dallas.

For Modano, who is one of the few holdovers from the franchise’s beginnings as the Minnesota North Stars and has gone through a painful transformation from a soft, one-dimensional scorer to an elite two-way player, being on the cusp of success is tantalizing.

“You start out needing 16 wins and you’re down to one,” he said. “It’s a good situation and good position to be in. . . . It’s easy, but it’s hard.”

Nothing has come easily for either team in this series, and Thursday’s game was typical of the tension, physicality and big-game plays that have made this far closer than the teams’ regular-season records would have suggested.

The Stars capitalized on one of three power plays they were awarded to score their first goal, at 2:23 of the first period, a quick shot by Sydor in the left circle that was made possible by a clever cross-ice pass from Modano. The point was Sydor’s first in the Cup finals--he was scoreless in the Kings’ five-game loss to Montreal in 1993.

“I haven’t really done much offensively,” he said, “but that’s one thing I’ve learned over my years, not to get down or try and force things. I just try to relax and have fun and work hard.”

The Stars protected that lead efficiently, never exposing goaltender Ed Belfour to sustained pressure, and sent the sellout crowd of 17,001 into a frenzy when Verbeek completed a two-on-one with Richard Matvichuk by lifting a backhander over Dominik Hasek with 4:39 to play.

Belfour made 23 saves to earn his third shutout of the playoffs and seventh of his career, moving him into fourth place among active goalies on the career playoff shutout list. It was also the first shutout in the finals since Colorado’s Patrick Roy stopped 63 shots in a 1-0 triple-overtime victory at Florida to win the Cup in 1996.

“What can I say? We tried the whole game,” said Hasek, who got a piece of Sydor’s shot but not enough. “We had a couple of chances. I think both teams had not too many chances.”

The difference was the Stars made the most of theirs, just as Modano has made the most of Hitchcock’s prodding to improve his game and his attitude.

No one who is soft could have played with the discomfort Modano experienced and win 65% of his faceoffs. Or thrown himself without reserve into a rugged game. Or outmuscle Buffalo’s Alex Zhitnik for the puck after losing a faceoff and kick it ahead to Matvichuk to create the two-on-one for Dallas.

“I thought when we came into the game tonight that they had an X factor and I thought Modano was our X factor,” Hitchcock said. “I think for us to win this series, Mike had to be a player of significance, whether he scored a point or not in the game, and he made a big step in that direction today.”

His call to Modano, he said, “was really just saying hello to his mom and dad,” Hitchcock said. “I’ve spent a lot of time with him, and he spent a lot of time with me and I’m able to say some things candidly and only to him that maybe I can’t say to other players. . . . I think he took it to heart and he went about his business today.”

The Stars’ business is unfinished, as both teams know. But the Stars do have history on their side: On the 15 previous occasions when the finals were tied at two, the winner of Game 5 won the Cup 12 times.

“You can’t get too high after winning and you can’t get too low after losing,” Sabre Coach Lindy Ruff said. “We’re a confident team in our building and our players believe they will be back here for Game 7.”

* PALFFY TALKS CONTINUE: The Kings are still working on a trade for Ziggy Palffy of the New York Islanders. Page 14