Stars Go to Hull for Cup

The Dallas Stars turned Brett Hull into a checker, but in the end, there was no stifling his scoring instincts.

Hull poked in a puck Dominik Hasek couldn’t quite cover at 14:51 of the third overtime, the second-longest overtime game in the history of the Stanley Cup finals, as the Dallas Stars scratched out a 2-1 victory over the valiant Buffalo Sabres and won the Stanley Cup in six hard-fought games.

The Sabres felt the goal should have been disallowed because Hull’s left foot was in the crease.

The sellout crowd of 18,595 at Marine Midland Arena gave the hometown Sabres a standing ovation at game’s end, which came at 1:30 a.m. Eastern Time. The Sabres outshot the Stars, 54-50.

The Stars became the 14th team since 1927 to win the Cup in overtime. The last team to accomplish that was the 1996 Colorado Avalanche, which needed a goal from Uwe Krupp in the third overtime to vanquish the Florida Panthers. The Stars also became the first team to win the Presidents’ Trophy and the Cup in the same year since the 1994 New York Rangers.

Dallas center Joe Nieuwendyk won the Conn Smythe trophy, awarded to the most valuable player of the playoffs. Teammate Mike Keane became the eighth player to win the Cup with three teams. He had previously won with the 1993 Montreal Canadiens and the 1996 Avalanche.

For all but five minutes and five seconds of the series, the teams were tied or within one goal. The only final series that was closer was the 1968 finals, in which Montreal was tied with or led St. Louis for the duration of a four-game sweep.

The teams combined to score 22 goals, setting a record for the fewest goals by both teams in a six-game Cup final. The previous record was 25, set by the Rangers and Toronto Maple Leafs in 1940. By scoring 10 goals, the Sabres set a record for the fewest goals by one team in a six-game final, breaking the record of 11 set in 1940 by the Maple Leafs.

Dallas scored first, when Finnish winger Jere Lehtinen lugged the puck up the left wing before slotting a shot in the small opening between Hasek’s right leg and the post at 8:09. It was a rare bad goal on Hasek, who could have stopped the shot if he had gotten his pad flush against the post. He shook his head repeatedly after the goal.

Neither team was assessed a penalty until the second period, and the offensive pace picked up noticeably after each had a power play.

Buffalo’s Geoff Sanderson was sent off for interference at 5:19, but Hasek met the challenge posed by Dallas’ power play and made a pad save on Dave Reid and a sitting save on the rebound attempt by Sergei Zubov. While the teams were at full strength, Ed Belfour made a stick save on a backhander by Sanderson, but Dallas defenseman Craig Ludwig was penalized for interference in front of the net and Buffalo went on the power play.

The Sabres’ power play fizzled after a three-for-seven start, and Jason Woolley’s hesitance to shoot almost cost them a goal when he lost control of the puck and Keane took it up ice on a breakaway. Only a fine glove save by Hasek spared the Sabres a 2-0 deficit.

The Sabres finally got to Belfour at 18:21 of the second period, capping a strong offensive period. Wayne Primeau, on the rush up the right side, sent a bouncing pass to the middle of the ice to Stu Barnes. With Ludwig diving in front of him, Barnes managed to lift the puck over Ludwig and into the far side of the net, past Belfour’s stick. It was Barnes’ seventh playoff goal, a remarkable number considering he had no goals in 17 regular-season games after the Sabres acquired him from Pittsburgh.

The third period featured an uncharacteristic number of offensive chances for both teams, but neither scored. However, the Sabres did surpass their previous series high of 23 shots on goal, which they recorded in Game 5. At the end of regulation time, they had a 32-26 edge in shots.

The first overtime didn’t feature many dangerous scoring chances, but the Sabres came out with a burst of energy in the second sudden-death period and produced some chances that had the crowd gasping. Defenseman James Patrick hit the crossbar 2:10 into the second overtime, and Belfour had to make a glove save on a nasty shot by Barnes a few moments later.

Both teams had remarkable amounts of energy, no doubt due to each coach’s strategy of keeping players’ shifts short.

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