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Thursday, December 16, 1999
Stars struck
Road weary Flames didn't have enough gas to play with the champs
DALLAS -- This answers the question of what's wrong with the Dallas Stars.
Absolutely nothing ... that the Calgary Flames can see.
The seeming collapse of last year's Stanley Cup champions had replaced the Grassy Knoll as the big mystery in this city.
But the Stars shooter was unveiled last night and it was no conspiracy.
Joe Nieuwendyk exacted a little more personal revenge against his former team with a couple of powerplay goals that led the Stars to a 5-1 win last night.
It could have been worse, too, since 'Niewy' blew a shot off a goalpost from a gift setup at a wide-open.
Dallas' 15-13-3 start to this campaign had tongues wagging across the league -- had the champs lost it?
Their offence had been brutal; powerplay among the worst in the league.
Yet, last night, it was clear any misgivings about the Stars were misplaced.
They simply dominated an overmatched Flames team that had been on a roll.
"Wrong with the Dallas Stars," exclaimed Calgary coach Brian Sutter. "They came out jumping against us ... there's nothing wrong with them.
"I know we've had three games in four nights and we needed some things to go our way, but they got a couple breaks on their goals, and we didn't give Grant any help at all.
The loss snapped the Flames streak of securing at least one point at seven games. Their only loss in that stretch came in overtime.
And that success came on the road, demonstrating this is a Flames team that has indeed turned its season around.
Led by Fred Brathwaite, the Flames have moved back into the thick of the playoff hunt, and they are close to having Steve Smith, Rene Corbet and Jeff Shantz back in their lineup.
But it was clearly a tired troop of Flames last night.
After being dominated in St. Louis in a physically-draining game the night before, there was little gas left in the tank.
And the Stars exploited it.
Calgary managed just four shots on net in the first period, five in the second, and their quality scoring chances could be counted on one hand.
"That's no excuse," submitted Jason Wiemer of the team's three-game-in-four-night junket. "We can't come up with that kind of effort against the good teams, but if there's supposed to be something with (Stars), we'd like to have their problems."
Grant Fuhr was starting for just the second time in the past 15 games but he couldn't be faulted.
The Stars opened the scoring early in the first period when Brian Skrudland tipped a Grant Marshall pass over the shoulder of Fuhr that no goalie on this planet could have stopped.
Then Nieuwendyk put the Flames away with consecutive powerplay goals, both rebounds at the side of the crease.
Sergei Zubov's screened slapshot in the third period iced this game before Val Bure finally solved Stars goalie Manny Fernandez.
The Flames goal, which made it 4-1, came after Jarome Iginla drove hard to the net, losing the puck at the last second only to have it squirt on to the stick of Bure, who slid it into the open corner.
But the Stars' Mike Modano, who earlier left the game with a knee injury, was left unchecked in front of the net and took a couple whacks at a rebound before finally beating Fuhr.
The final result was an accurate reflection of the game.
Calgary showed it still has a long ways to go to compete with the best in the And Dallas showed every sign it isn't about to relinquish its title as the best team in the NHL.
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