Belfour, Roy Battle to Standoff in Opener

Ed Belfour and Patrick Roy were even on this night.

“Both goaltenders were good and they had to be. They were also lucky at times,” Dallas Coach Ken Hitchcock said after the Stars and Colorado Avalanche played to a 2-2 tie Wednesday night in the first game of the NHL regular season.

The penalty-filled game matched the league’s best goalies and the teams that played in the last two Western Conference finals.

Belfour stopped 26 Colorado shots while Roy, who remains four wins shy of breaking the NHL record for career victories, had 19 saves. Four other Dallas shots hit the goal posts.

“Both made some great saves. You can’t ask any more of those guys,” said Mike Modano, who had a goal and an assist for the Stars.

While the goalies stood out, neither team was able to take advantage of numerous power-play opportunities. The Avalanche was one for 10 on the power play and Dallas was one for nine.

“That was an exciting game, lots of shots and lots of power plays,” Colorado Coach Bob Hartley said. “It gives both teams a chance to showcase their power plays, and both goalies made some great saves.”

There were 21 penalties, 11 against Dallas, in a game that underscored the league’s commitment to call the game more closely.

Penalties that carried over from the third period into overtime kept the teams from the four-on-four, extra-session format until only 2:54 remained.

Dallas won both of the Western finals in seven games, including a series-deciding 3-2 victory on the same ice four months ago.

Colorado outshot Dallas, 8-7, in the third period, including Alex Tanguay’s breakaway that was deflected by Belfour with about three minutes to go. In the final minute, Milan Hejduk had an opening on Belfour’s left side, but couldn’t put the puck in the net.

Even though the Stars had a two-man advantage the first 1:20 of the third period, they couldn’t capitalize and managed only one shot.

Colorado tied the score at 2-2 on Adam Deadmarsh’s power-play goal at 18:31 of the second period. Deadmarsh took a centering pass from Chris Drury and pushed it inside the right post over Belfour’s glove.

A little more than a minute later, the Stars had their two-man advantage. Shjon Podein was called for charging after shoving Modano, after the Dallas center’s shot 29 seconds into a power play missed.

Roy never had a chance on the first goal, having been screened by a teammate on Sergei Zubov’s shot.

The Stars converted while enjoying a two-man advantage at the end of the first period, when Modano’s slap shot hit the net just as the horn sounded. The goal was confirmed by a replay official.

Podein scored on a centering pass from Stephane Yelle to make it 2-1.