Hull (2 Goals) Is Star of Stars

Brett Hull is talking less and scoring more.

The veteran winger scored two goals Thursday, the second with 4:16 to play in the third period, as the Dallas Stars rebounded from a humiliating Game 1 loss to defeat the New Jersey Devils, 2-1, and even the Stanley Cup finals at 1-1.

No longer as outspoken as in his youth, the 35-year-old Hull is letting his scoring feats talk for him--and they’re speaking volumes. His performance Thursday at Continental Airlines Arena gave him 11 goals and 22 playoff points, tops in both categories.

“We’ve got too many guys [for him] to speak. Their leadership and experience far exceeds mine in these situations,” said Hull, who deflected a shot by Jere Lehtinen past goalie Martin Brodeur for his 21st playoff game-winner, second to Wayne Gretzky’s 24.

“I’ll let them do all the talking. I usually just get myself in trouble, anyway.”

Hull got the Stars out of trouble Thursday. Of course, it helped that goalie Ed Belfour, off the medication that slowed him in Game 1, stopped 27 shots and improved his record after a playoff loss to 9-0.

But it was Hull, for years derided as lazy, who deserved credit for helping tie the series before it shifts to Dallas on Saturday.

“The game is so closed off now. There’s not a lot of open space,” Star Coach Ken Hitchcock said. “Rather than look for it, you’ve got to be able to go out and fight for your space. Hullie is prepared to do that now. He’s a committed guy. He’s committed to this team and he’s committed to the organization.”

Above all, Hull and the Stars were committed to erasing ugly memories of their 7-3 loss Tuesday.

“Everyone watched the tape,” Hull said, “and you have half the guys saying, ‘Just melt it. Throw it out.’ I said, ‘You have to learn from your mistakes.’ . . . If you forget about it and the same things happen, then it does matter.”

Hull scored the game’s first goal on a play that Devil Coach Larry Robinson claimed was offside but wasn’t noticed because the linesmen were looking for a potential icing call. Devil defenseman Brian Rafalski lost the puck to Mike Modano, who found Hull open in the right circle. Hull’s quick shot went over Brodeur’s glove at 4:25 of the first period.

Bryan Lewis, the NHL’s director of officiating, said no proof could be found on tape that the goal was improper. “I couldn’t say to you it was an offside play,” he said. “We have to assume the officials saw it clearly.”

Said Modano: “I can’t say if I knew Jere was offside or not.”

Less than a minute after Hull scored, Devil winger Alexander Mogilny delighted the sellout crowd of 19,040 with his fourth playoff goal. Linemate Scott Gomez created the chance by holding off Dallas center Roman Lyashenko as he passed to Mogilny, who ripped a 30-foot shot past Belfour at 12:42.

Neither team scored in the second period, when the game looked like what the series was expected to be and less like the run-and-gun festival Game 1 had been.

“We were expecting tonight to be a tight game and we were very pleased to be 1-1 going into the third period because we use more players, and I thought that was going to be to our advantage,” New Jersey defenseman Ken Daneyko said. “Unfortunately, we weren’t able to capitalize on some of our scoring opportunities. We certainly had enough to win, and Belfour had a good game.”

The Stars won because their top line of Modano, Lehtinen and Hull outplayed New Jersey’s top line of Jason Arnott, Petr Sykora and Patrik Elias, which had racked up four goals and 11 points Tuesday. Robinson, who had the last line change as coach of the home team, could have avoided that matchup but seemed content to match power against power.

“It kind of fit into our plan,” Modano said. “We were a little more responsible with that matchup.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

THE SERIES

NEW JERSEY vs. DALLAS

Series tied, 1-1

* GAME 1: New Jersey 7, Dallas 3

* GAME 2: Dallas 2, New Jersey 1

* GAME 3: Saturday at Dallas, 5 p.m., ABC

* GAME 4: Monday at Dallas, 5 p.m., ABC

* GAME 5: Thursday at New Jersey, 5 p.m., ABC

* GAME 6: June 10 at Dallas, 5 p.m., ABC*

* GAME 7: June 12 at New Jersey, 5 p.m., ABC*

* if necessary; times Pacific