Dallas Barrage Beats Roy, 4-2

Whatever mystique Patrick Roy held over the Dallas Stars is gone.

The winningest goaltender in playoff history couldn’t hold up under a 45-shot assault Monday night, giving up third-period goals to Joe Nieuwendyk and Mike Modano as Dallas beat Colorado, 4-2, to even the Western Conference finals at a game apiece.

“We didn’t have much of a choice but to keep firing the puck,” Nieuwendyk said. “Patrick’s been in a bit of a zone the last week to 10 days so we couldn’t be satisfied with just one shot and then exit the zone. We were getting good looks and eventually we found some holes.”

The Avalanche, which had won five straight since trailing Detroit, 2-0, in the second round, lost on the road for the first time in the playoffs. Its seven straight postseason road victories had tied the NHL record.

“We’re going home and it’s now the best out of five,” Colorado Coach Bob Hartley said. “We’re not happy with our performance, but let’s not go crazy over this.”

Roy, whose seven stops in the final minutes of Game 1 preserved his 108th playoff win, had not seen this many shots in a playoff game since 1997.

“They were desperate,” Roy said. “They really needed the game. It seems to me that we didn’t understand that.”

The Stars outshot the Avalanche, 15-1, in the final period as they racked up their most attempts since trying 56 in a triple-overtime victory in the first round.

“Patrick gives us a chance every game,” Hartley said. “We took some bad penalties, we gave them some power plays and they have a great hockey club, so they didn’t get 45 shots by luck.”

Ed Belfour faced 19 shots in the game. While it wasn’t nearly as many as Roy, he denied plenty of good scoring opportunities.

Both Colorado goals came on rebounds, just as in Game 1. The Game 2 scorers were Sandis Ozolinsh on a first-period power play to put Colorado ahead, 1-0, and Milan Hejduk on a diving shot that made it 2-2 in the second period.

Dallas’ early goals came from unlikely sources. Dave Reid scored for the first time in 20 playoff games and Sergei Zubov gained his first of the postseason.

With 13:02 left in the game, Pat Verbeek appeared to put the Stars ahead, 3-2, when he used his skate and stick to nudge the puck by Roy. Having it wiped away motivated Dallas, much like a called-off goal sparked Colorado in Game 1.

“We really dug in,” Verbeek said. “We started to win one-on-one battles and we got two goals after that.”

The only bad news for Dallas was losing forward Benoit Hogue for the rest of the playoffs because of a torn ligament in his left knee.