Belfour Playoff Sharp in Stars’ 2-0 Win

With 18 regular-season games remaining, Dallas Star goaltender Ed Belfour is locking into playoff mode.

Belfour stopped 25 shots for his 49th career shutout and Mike Modano scored his 30th goal as the Stars beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 2-0, Wednesday night at Dallas.

Belfour registered his 303rd career victory and fourth shutout of the season, improving his record to 27-17-5.

“It’s definitely important for us to gear up for the better teams,” said Belfour, whose steady play led the Stars to their first Stanley Cup title last season. “You want to get into a groove and keep it going into the playoffs.”

Belfour stopped 10 shots in the third period and withstood a six-on-four Flyer manpower advantage over the final 1:33 when the Stars were killing a penalty and Philadelphia pulled goaltender Brian Boucher.

The Stars improved to 5-2-1-1 in their last nine games, and they also got some good news when they learned a left knee injury to No. 2 defenseman Richard Matvichuk was only a sprain.

Star Coach Ken Hitchcock said Matvichuk would be sidelined for seven to 10 days because of the first-period injury.

Washington 4, Tampa Bay 2--Peter Bondra ended a goal-scoring drought at six games and goalie Olaf Kolzig moved above the .500 mark for the first time in his career as the Capitals won at Tampa, Fla.

Terry Yake added two goals, including an empty-netter.

Bondra has 33 goals in 32 career games against the Lightning. Kolzig stopped 21 shots and improved his career record to 103-102-30.

Joe Murphy also scored for Washington, 9-3-3 in its last 15 road games.

Tampa Bay all-star defenseman Petr Svoboda left in the first period because of a sprained thumb and did not return.

Florida 3, Toronto 1--Scott Mellanby, playing in his 1,000th game, scored a goal at Sunrise, Fla, to help the Panthers end a home losing streak at four games

Pavel Bure, the NHL’s leading goal scorer, scored twice. Bure, who has 45 goals, tied Mellanby’s franchise record for points in a season with 70.

New York Rangers 3, Buffalo 3--Curtis Brown’s fluke goal late in the third period completed the Sabres’ comeback for a tie at New York.

Goalie Mike Richter deflected Brown’s shot with his stick off the leg of teammate Eric Lacroix and into the net.

The Rangers were ahead, 3-1, at the start of the final period, but Michael Peca sliced into the lead with his 17th goal. Jan Hlavac had two goals for the Rangers.

Phoenix 7, Carolina 5--Jeremy Roenick scored the final two goals, one short-handed and the other into an empty net with 21 seconds left, to clinch the Coyotes’ victory at Phoenix.

The Coyotes held leads of 3-0 and 6-1.

Calgary 8, Pittsburgh 2--Valeri Bure had two goals and two assists and Martin St. Louis added a pair of goals at Calgary, Canada, as the Flames enjoyed their biggest outburst of the season.

Montreal 4, Chicago 1--Shayne Corson, Patrick Poulin and Saku Koivu scored first-period goals at Chicago.

Around the League

The Montreal Canadiens finally traded Vladimir Malakhov, sending the disgruntled defenseman to the New Jersey Devils for defensemen Sheldon Souray and Joshua DeWolf and a 2001 draft choice. Malakhov, who missed the Canadiens’ first 53 games because of a knee injury, had been on the trading block since the club learned he took his family skiing during the All-Star break even though he had not returned from his injury. . . . The Chicago Blackhawks exercised their option to take the Vancouver Canucks’ first-round pick in the 2000 draft. The Blackhawks acquired the option in a draft-day deal last year when they traded the fourth overall pick in 1999 for defenseman Bryan McCabe and the option of taking Vancouver’s first pick in 2000 or 2001.