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Dallas looks for way out of hole

Only 2 NHL teams have come back from 3-0 deficit

Lynn DeBruin, Rocky Mountain News

Published April 27, 2006 at midnight

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Another overtime game, another heartbreaking loss for the Dallas Stars.

Now they find themselves in a hole so big only two teams in NHL history have managed to emerge.

A 4-3 loss Wednesday to the Colorado Avalanche left the Stars seeing stars, down 3-0 in a first-round Western Conference playoff series, with the fourth game on the road again Friday at the Pepsi Center.

If a 5-4 Monday loss wasn't demoralizing enough, this one left Dallas players hanging their heads.

Afterward, Brenden Morrow sat deep in his locker, replaying the game-tying goal that he watched from the penalty box.

"I think I saw it go in before it even (went in)," a dejected Morrow said. "It seemed like it was in slow motion."

He could only think, what if.

Just like on Monday, the Stars seemingly had this one in the bag late in the third period. They had a 3-2 lead with the clock ticking down.

Then Morrow was called for tripping, setting up yet another Avalanche power play. This time, Marty Turco and Co. couldn't stop it.

The Avalanche emptied the net with about 70 seconds left, and Andrew Brunette stuffed the loose puck in, tying the score at 3 with 57 seconds remaining.

The Avalanche won it 69 seconds into overtime on Alex Tanguay's second goal of the game.

"We gave ourselves a chance to win (Wednesday night), but penalties have been called that way for over 80 games," Morrow said. "I should know better by now. Make sure that doesn't happen Friday night."

While the underdog Avalanche finds itself pushing toward a series sweep, the Stars will try to do what the Boston Red Sox did against the New Yankees a few years ago - rally from an 0-3 deficit.

Only two NHL teams have come back from 3-0 series deficit. The Toronto Maple Leafs did it in 1942 against Detroit in the Stanley Cup Finals. And the New York Islanders did it in 1975 to beat Pittsburgh in a quarterfinal series.

"I know the odds are against us, but the focus is about what this group can accomplish, and the belief that we have in ourselves," Turco said.

"It's not over. They won three straight. No reason why we can't."

For most of the game, the Stars had shut down the Avalanche power play, allowing only one goal in the first seven attempts. But the penalties finally caught up to Dallas, just as they did in the second period of the first game, when the Avalanche turned a 2-0 deficit into a 5-2 victory.

As on Monday, the Stars found it difficult early on to get things going. Midway through the first period, they had no shots on net and trailed 1-0.

But Morrow provided the spark, leading a two-on-one break during an Avalanche power play. He passed to Stu Barnes, who beat -Jose Theodore high for a short-handed goal that tied the score at 1.

The Stars fell behind 2-1 but scored the next two, with Morrow again providing an assist.

In the end, it wasn't enough.

"We're not going to feel sorry for ourselves," said Turco, who has allowed 32 goals in the past eight playoff games against the Avalanche.

"We're going to put everything on the line Friday. It's going to be an effort that's unparalleled to anything this year. Our backs are against the wall, and that's when teams are desperate."