Game Recap

DALLAS 3, COLORADO 2 (OT) DALLAS (AP) - Dallas defenseman Brad Lukowich didn't want to waste his rare scoring chance to give the Stars a victory. Lukowich buried the opportunity with a backhander from the slot with 3:13 left in overtime as the Stars beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-2 Saturday. Lukowich skated up from the blue line and scored through the pads of goalie Patrick Roy, converting Ted Donato's pass from behind the net. "If I would have messed that one up, I'd be hearing about it for a long, long time," said Lukowich of his third goal of the season and seventh career. "I was going to go for the forehand, but I saw a (defenseman) coming and got good wood on it on the backhand." Lukowich was on the ice during the 4-on-4 overtime because the Stars were without injured forwards Joe Nieuwendyk and Jamie Langenbrunner. The coaching staff's confidence in Lukowich has been growing. He's the team's fifth defenseman, but he leads the Stars with a plus-minus rating of plus-23. The victory was the Stars' first over the Avalanche at home in seven games. Joe Sakic's 40th goal late in the second period pulled Colorado into a 2-2 tie. Sakic beat goalie Ed Belfour on a backhander from the slot at 17:37. The teams play again Sunday night at Denver, where the Avalanche are 23-5-4-2. "They played like a desperate team," Colorado center Peter Forsberg said. "They really fought for pucks, and we didn't play as well as we should have. Every game with them is a battle." Dallas has beaten Colorado in the Western Conference finals in each of the last two seasons. Saturday's game had a playoff feel. "That was playoff intensity hockey on both sides," Colorado coach Bob Hartley said. "It seems every game in this building, you can't predict the script. They worked hard and deserved it. Don't count them out when the playoffs start." The Stars were coming off one of their poorest performances of the season, a 4-1 home loss to Chicago on Wednesday night, and to stumble again against one of their biggest rivals would have been a major setback. "We fire our gun into our foot, hobble around, and then here we go again," Stars coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We're very resilient. We showed our ability to raise our level to a high performance." Darryl Sydor and Mike Modano scored first-period goals for Dallas. Rob Blake had a first-period goal for Colorado. DALLAS STARS 3, Colorado Avalanche 2 (OT) 1ST 2ND 3RD OT FINAL --- --- --- --- ----- Colorado 1 1 0 0 2 Dallas 2 0 0 1 3 FIRST PERIOD - SCORING: 1, Dallas, Sydor 9 (Modano), 1:06. 2,. Colorado, Blake 19 (Forsberg, Skoula), 10:22 (pp). 3, Dallas, Modano 25, 14:42. PENALTIES: Parker, Col (roughing), 4:27; Sloan, Dal (slashing), 8:51; Dingman, Col (tripping), 17:38; Morrow, Dal (boarding), 18:56; Hatcher, Dal (interference), 19:47. SECOND PERIOD - SCORING: 4, Colorado, Sakic 40 (Forsberg, Nieminen), 17:37. PENALTIES: Blake, Col (hooking), :48; Pratt, Col (cross-checking), 10:31; Muller, Dal (goaltender interference), 15:23; Hogue, Dal (boarding), 17:41. THIRD PERIOD - SCORING: None. PENALTIES: Dingman, Col (tripping), 9:48. OVERTIME - SCORING: 5, Dallas, Lukowich 3 (Donato), 1:27. PENALTIES: None. SHOTS ON GOAL 1ST 2ND 3RD OT TOTAL --- --- --- --- ----- Colorado 12 14 6 0 32 Dallas 6 7 7 3 23 POWER PLAY Colorado 1 of 5; Dallas 0 of 5. GOALIES: Colorado, Roy 34-11-6 (23 shots-20 saves). Dallas, Belfour 29-19-5 (32-30). Referees: Mark Faucette, Rob Shick. Linesmen: Scott Driscoll, Dan McCourt. A: 17,001 (17,001).