Belfour Is Too Tough for Sharks

The Dallas Stars are going into the Western Conference finals on quite a roll.

Joe Nieuwendyk got them started and the Stars got power-play goals 41 seconds apart in the third period to defeat San Jose, 4-1, Sunday night, eliminating the Sharks in five games.

The Stanley Cup champions advanced to a rematch of last year’s conference finals against the Colorado Avalanche. The first two games will be in Dallas.

The Stars have won their last eight postseason games in Reunion Arena, with Ed Belfour posting shutouts in four of them. He came within 11:28 of a fifth, instead settling for a home scoreless streak of 187 minutes 25 seconds.

Dallas, playing in its third consecutive conference finals, has a knack for closing out a playoff series. This was the sixth consecutive time the Stars eliminated a team on their first try.

San Jose--which played without Owen Nolan, its leading scorer, and Bryan Marchment, its most physical defenseman--wasn’t able to defend as it did in a 2-1 victory in Game 3. And it wasn’t able to force the quick tempo of Dallas’ 5-4 victory in Game 4.

The Stars took the lead midway through the first period when Nieuwendyk made a nice move in front of the net to beat goalie Steve Shields. Three minutes later, Scott Thornton sneaked up from behind the net and scooped in a shot, and Dallas was in control.

And Belfour certainly was. He maintained the lead by knocking away a great scoring chance by Vincent Damphousse in the closing seconds of the first period. And he made several nice stops on a second-period power play. In all, he had 32 saves.