Modano Helps Stars Get Even

The Dallas Stars, needing a victory to keep from falling behind 0-2 in the Western Conference finals, turned to Mike Modano.

The Star forward scored twice in a 3-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche Monday night and evened the best-of-seven series at one game apiece.

“We were able to go out there and be a little more of the hunter than the hunted,” said Modano, who has eight playoff goals. “I think I was a little more aggressive as far as skating and getting in there first; force them to react to what I’m doing instead of reacting to what they’re doing.”

Dallas was desperate after a 2-0 loss at home in Game 1, and the series shifting to Denver Friday. A two-game deficit would have been hard to overcome, even for the defending Stanley Cup champions.

The Stars are 1-8 after losing the first two games of a series--their only comeback was 1968 against the Kings--and Colorado has not lost in six home playoff games this season.

Modano, who got checked into the Colorado bench in Game 1, made sure Dallas didn’t have to overcome the odds.

After Sandis Ozolinsh gave Colorado the lead 25 seconds into the second period, Modano tied it at 5:24 when he slipped a shot under Patrick Roy’s pads while both were falling to the ice.

Joe Sakic charged the net to rebound a miss by Brett Hull but knocked down Roy in the process. Modano swiped it in just before hitting the ice.

Modano scored again on a power play with 1:45 left in the second, lifting a shot from a tough angle on the right wing over Roy’s glove shoulder.

Roy, the NHL’s leader with 119 career playoff wins, had given up eight goals in his previous seven playoff games.

“I thought we were undisciplined,” Roy said. “They played a better game, no doubt about it, and we didn’t play a solid game.”

Colorado, already playing without injured defenseman Ray Bourque, lost Adam Foote--another top defenseman--2:42 into the first period when he took a stick to the side of the head. Foote got hit next to his right eye when Jere Lehtinen took a shot from the left wing and caught him on the follow through. He was taken to an area hospital but was later released and waiting for the team at the airport.

“You’re always going to lose players, but when you lose a guy that’s going to log 30 minutes, it’s never easy,” Avalanche Coach Bob Hartley said.

Bourque skated in the morning, but opted to wait for Friday’s game in Colorado to test his injured knee. It was his fourth consecutive missed game. Ozolinsh’s goal, his fifth of the playoffs, found its way through Adam Deadmarsh’s legs and Ed Belfour’s pads from about 50 feet away.

Hull put Dallas up, 3-1, with a blast from the point over Roy’s right shoulder 5:48 into the third period. Avalanche rookie defenseman Martin Skoula turned the puck over on the play when he tripped over his own skate next to the net.

NHL Notes

The Montreal Canadiens announced that Hall of Famer Jean Beliveau has a malignant tumor in the neck area. Beliveau, 68, played with the Canadiens from 1950-71 and was a member of 10 Stanley Cup winners. Beliveau, a 10-time all-star, will undergo treatments over the next few months. When he retired in 1971, Beliveau was appointed vice president, a position he held until 1993. He currently is an ambassador for the team.