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Avs can't finish job

Stars avoid sweep thanks to strong effort by defense

Rick Sadowski, Rocky Mountain News

Published April 29, 2006 at midnight

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Let's hope any fans that brought those little brooms into the Pepsi Center on Friday night have some spring cleaning to do at home.

There won't be a sweep in the Western Conference quarterfinal series between the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars.

The Stars still have quite a mountain to climb, but they used stingy team defense to throttle the Avalanche and make things rather easy for goalie Marty Turco en route to a methodical 4-1 victory.

The Avalanche leads the best-of-seven series, three games to one, with Game 5 set for Sunday afternoon at American Airlines Center in Dallas.

History remains on the Avalanche's side, as only two teams - the 1975 New York Islanders and 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs - ever have won a Stanley Cup playoff series after losing the first three games.

But the last thing the Avalanche wanted to do was give the Stars hope, especially with the next game in Texas.

"We feel the momentum is on our side now," Stars coach Dave Tippett said.

It's precisely what the Avalanche didn't want to have happen.

"We had to win this one," Avalanche forward Andrew Brunette said. "Everybody knows playoff momentum shifts real quickly. I think we'll wake up (this) morning and take the approach that we have to go in there and win a hockey game."

Said defenseman Rob Blake: "They are right back in the series. They have new life and they are going to be hungry. We have to refocus. We're up 3-1, but we can play better than this."

Dallas used its third strong second period in a row to take control Friday, outshooting the Avalanche 19-6 and scoring two goals to build a 3-1 lead.

"I think they played a great road game," said Brunette, who, along with Joe Sakic and Alex Tanguay, was held without a shot. "They did everything I'm sure they wanted to do and we didn't do the things we needed to do to win a hockey game."

Niklas Hagman and Bill Guerin registered the second-period goals, giving the Stars an 8-0 edge in scoring in the second periods of the past three games.

Hagman scored again, this time into an empty net with 1 minute, 15 seconds remaining in the game.

The Stars kept the Avalanche's top line of Brunette, Sakic and Milan Hejduk - it is a unit that combined for six goals and 10 assists in the first three games - off the score sheet and they also killed all six of Colorado's power plays.

"A game like this, where it's do- or-die, it's not hard to give everything you have," Turco said. "We know we can play well and we don't wish anything different. We want to do it this way. We want to earn everything we get. There is a great belief in this locker room, and it really shone through."

Hagman broke a 1-1 tie at 3:50 of the second period on a semi-breakaway, and Guerin converted on a power play with 1:19 remaining in the period.

Hagman's goal came off a pass from defenseman Sergei Zubov after the Avalanche's Brett Mc- Lean either fell or was tripped while carrying the puck along the boards near the team benches.

Zubov gained possession and passed to Hagman, who broke in on goalie Jose Theodore, cut to his right and scored on a back- handed shot.

Guerin made it 3-1 after the Stars killed off two consecutive Avalanche power plays in which Colorado totaled one shot against Turco, who allowed 14 goals in the first three games.

Guerin was deep on the left side when he took a shot that Theodore stopped. The puck remained loose, Guerin scooped it up and skated behind the net.

When Guerin came out on the opposite side, he swept a pass for Morrow, but the puck hit the skate of Avalanche defenseman Karlis Skrastins and caromed between Theodore's pads.

The Stars didn't get those kinds of breaks in the first three games. They also enjoyed a 39-23 edge in shots.

The teams were tied after one period for the first time in the series.

The Avalanche struck first, at 4:46, on a goal by rookie Brad Richardson, but the Stars answered at 7:35 with a goal by Jere Lehtinen.

Richardson was in the slot area when he fired a shot that beat Turco low to the stick side for his first playoff point. Antti Laaksonen was at the side of the net when he slid the puck in front.

The Stars didn't take long to respond.

Lehtinen skated across the Avalanche blue line, took a cross-ice pass from Mike Modano and beat Theodore to the glove side from the inner edge of the right circle.

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