Game Recap

DALLAS 1, EDMONTON 0 (OT) EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) - Benoit Hogue could scarcely believe his good fortune. Edmonton Oilers defenseman Janne Niinimaa couldn't believe what he was seeing. Niinimaa's defensive lapse at 13:07 of overtime sent the puck into the hand of Hogue, who drilled a shot past Oilers goaltender Curtis Joseph for a 1-0 win Monday night and a 2-1 lead in the best-of-7 Western Conference semifinal. "You don't look for the fancy play in overtime," said Hogue, who has become more of a checker than a scorer since going to Dallas two years ago from Toronto. "If you get the shot you take it and see what happens. I had a shot in the slot, I took it and it went in." Niinimaa -- who has been a tower of strength for Edmonton -- botched a clearing attempt from his own corner. He tried to get the puck high and down the ice to relieve the fearsome forecheck of the Stars. Instead, the puck didn't get up and Hogue made no mistake with his shot, which he drilled over Joseph's left shoulder. "I had a long shift, I was tired and I didn't know what I was doing," Niinimaa said. "I should have gone off the glass. I made a stupid, stupid play. "I let my teammates down today, but it won't happen again." Game 4 is scheduled for Wednesday at the Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton. Hogue said the hard-fought win will go a long way in regaining the emotional edge in the series for Dallas, something Stars coach Ken Hitchcock said has been lacking on his team. "We played on emotion all season and we've lacked that in the playoffs," Hogue said. "It's the emotion we have to get out there and I think this will be a big push for us." Stars goalie Ed Belfour made 28 saves for the shutout. Joseph, who had shutouts in three of his previous four playoff games including a 2-0 blanking of the Stars 2-0 Saturday, made 27. Edmonton, fueled by a roaring sellout crowd of 17,099, came out hard in the first period, outskating, outhitting and outshooting Dallas. The second period saw Dallas rebound from a dismal first as the Stars outshot Edmonton 10-3. Mike Modano nearly gave the Stars the lead with 13 minutes gone in the second when his low blast from outside the blue line fooled Joseph, but the puck rang off the post. "A lot of people in Canada have us losing the series, they have us as the underdog," said Modano, whose team was tops in the league with 109 points in the regular season compared with Edmonton's 80 points. "That's fine with us. We know we haven't proved anything the last couple of years. But we felt we'd get a game here." The Oilers held a huge territorial advantage to open the game, firing 13 shots at Belfour, who kept Dallas in the game with his first-period heroics. Belfour first stopped consecutive shots from close range by the Oilers' Bill Huard. Later, Edmonton center Doug Weight got in behind the Dallas defense and found himself all alone in front of Belfour with the puck. Weight tried to fake out the Dallas goaltender, but Belfour made a glove save. Dallas Stars 1, EDMONTON OILERS 0 (OT) 1ST 2ND 3RD OT FINAL --- --- --- --- ----- DALLAS 0 0 0 1 1 EDMONTON 0 0 0 0 0 FIRST PERIOD - SCORING: None. PENALTIES: Belfour, Dal, served by Adams (interference), 1:35; Dallas bench, served by Verbeek (too many men), 4:37; Hogue, Dal (slashing), 16:18. SECOND PERIOD - SCORING: None. PENALTIES: Huard, Edm (interference), 5:41; Lindgren, Edm (cross-checking), 7:35; Mironov, Edm (interference), 10:56; Sydor, Dal (interference), 16:38. THIRD PERIOD - SCORING: None. PENALTIES: Edmonton bench, served by Smyth (too many men), :51; Verbeek, Dal (hooking), 2:16. OVERTIME - SCORING: 1, Dallas, Hogue 2, 13:07. PENALTIES: None. SHOTS ON GOAL 1ST 2ND 3RD OT TOTAL --- --- --- --- ----- DALLAS 6 10 5 7 28 EDMONTON 13 3 7 5 28 POWER PLAY: Dallas 0 of 4; Edmonton 0 of 5. GOALIES: Dallas, Belfour 6-3 (28 shots-28 saves). Edmonton, Joseph 5-5 (28-27). Referee: Bill McCreary. Linesmen: Shane Heyer, Jay Sharrers. A-17,099 (17,099).