Shining Stars

The Dallas Stars finished the season with the NHL's top point total, in large part because of their goaltending and defense.

That formula continued to work in the playoffs as the Stars defeated the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 Saturday night to clinch a berth in the Western Conference finals.

Stars goaltender Ed Belfour stopped 17 shots behind a brilliant defense. For the series, Belfour stopped 119 of 123 shots.

"This was typical of how our teams have gone at it. The goaltenders were dominant, and it boiled down to the last five minutes," Stars coach Ken Hitchcock said.

Oilers goalie Curtis Joseph was almost Belfour's equal with 24 saves.

"Joseph was outstanding, Eddie was outstanding. The goaltenders were the story of the series. Eddie held us together."

Greg Adams scored on a 2-on-1 break with 2:26 left in the game to clinch the victory, wrapping up their best-of-7 semifinal series in five games.

Derian Hatcher scored the Stars' other goal in the first period.

Belfour was on the verge of his fifth career playoff shutout and second of the series, but the Oilers scored on Bill Guerin's goal from the slot with 29 seconds to play. Oilers coach Ron Low pulled goaltender Curtis Joseph with two minutes to go, and Edmonton capitalized on Guerin's seventh goal of the playoffs.

Janne Niinimaa almost tied the game with six seconds left in the game. But Belfour got a skate on the shot and kicked it aside.

It was Belfour's 43rd playoff victory and improved his record to 8-3 in this post-season.

The Stars will meet the winner of the St. Louis-Detroit series. The Red Wings hold a 3-1 lead and can wrap things up Sunday afternoon in Detroit.

It's the first time the Stars have reached the conference finals since the franchise moved to Dallas from Minnesota five years ago. The Minnesota North Stars made it all the way to the Stanley Cup finals twice, losing both times.

Edmonton knocked the Stars out of the playoffs with a first-round upset last season.

"They were prepared not to be embarrassed by the Edmonton Oilers," Low said. "We got some respect from them last season. They were a very determined bunch."

Edmonton center Doug Weight praised the Stars' commitment to defense.

"They have great team defense," Weight said. "Only five goals

that's where we were lacking. Their defense was tremendous through the whole series, and Eddie played great."

Because of Belfour and Joseph, the first period had proved crucial for most of the series. Hitchcock said the Stars came out nervous and Hatcher's goal gave them a lift.

Joseph's shutout of Dallas in game two was the seventh of his playoff career and third of the 1998 post-season.

This game, too, turned into a low-scoring game.

Dallas' first shot on goal didn't come until midway through the first period.

Hatcher, the Stars' captain, scored with 4.7 seconds left in the first period when he lifted a wrist shot over Joseph's glove from the bottom of the right circle.

"There wasn't a whole lot of room," Hatcher said. "I waited, and as I shot it, he went down."

The goal came 48 seconds after Edmonton's Greg de Vries went to the penalty box for interference, giving Dallas its third power play of the period.

To that point, the Oilers had dominated Dallas, outshooting the Stars 8-3.

The momentum carried over, and the Stars fired eight straight shots in the first seven minutes of the second period.

Dallas had a 11-4 shots-on-goal advantage in the second period. Edmonton went 9:26 of the second period before its first shot.

The Oilers' best chance of the first two periods came with about three minutes to go in the second period. Defenseman Roman Hamrlik's 30-foot slap shot hit the right goal post.

Then, with 6:30 left in the game, defenseman Niinimaa hit the left post.

The Stars made a serious rush at the Edmonton goal with four minutes left, but Joseph stopped a close-in shot of Benoit Hogue, who scored both goals in Dallas' 2-1 victory in game four.

The hungry Dallas sellout crowd of 16,928 had only 90 seconds to wait, however, for the game-clincher from Adams.

Belfour and the Dallas defense continued to befuddle the Oilers. Edmonton scored just five goals in the five-game series, one of them an empty-netter. That tied an NHL post-season record for fewest goals in a five-game series set by the New York Rangers in 1928, and tied by the Boston Bruins in 1995 and the New Jersey Devils in 1997

The Stars' penalty-killers did not allow a power-play goal in the final four games of the series and just one in the five games.

"We didn't have enough offense. That's an awful amount of work for the number of goals we scored," Low said. "The power play was the obvious thing. One goal in the whole series."

Stars left wing Jamie Langenbrunner was scratched before the game with a sore shoulder. Club officials say he'll be evaluated day to day.

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