Game Recap

DALLAS 2, EDMONTON 1 DALLAS (AP) - Veteran Guy Carbonneau has two Stanley Cup championship rings. He showed the Dallas Stars on Wednesday night how they can all get one if they will just keep getting him the puck. Carbonneau scored with 6:53 to play as the heavily favored Stars rallied for a 2-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs. Carbonneau's wrist shot from the right circle went between goaltender Tommy Salo's legs for the game winner. "Experience when the playoffs comes around is very important," Carbonneau said. "This was a big win. We came out and took their momentum away in the third period." Carbonneau only had four goals during the regular season but said he needs to take the heat off Mike Modano and Joe Nieuwendyk in the playoffs. "Teams expect them to score but sometimes somebody else has to step up," Carbonneau said. The second game of the best-of-7 series will be played in Dallas on Friday night. Carbonneau's 35th career playoff goal came on a perfect setup pass from Dave Reid after Blake Sloan had shot and missed. The 39-year-old Carbonneau is in his 16th playoffs. "It's really great for us to pull off a win like this after trailing for two periods," Sloan said. "We kept getting our chances and we finally cashed in." Reid said Edmonton played a tough physical game all night in front of the net. "We finally had a guy who was open," Reid said. "I just dropped the puck to him." Dallas coach Ken Hitchcock said: "This was typical of all our games with Edmonton. They're always close and I don't see that changing. It was a physical game. Bodies were flying all over the place. It's either hit or be hit against Edmonton." Losing 1-0 on Rem Murray's second-period goal, it took only 13 seconds into the third period for Dallas to tie the game. Jere Lehtinen chased the puck down behind the Oilers' goal and spun around the net to beat Salo on his glove side. Oilers coach Ron Low said Edmonton was caught by surprise. "We weren't prepared on that first shift and they were jumping," Low said. "On the second goal Carbonneau just made a great play. With the exception of those plays I thought we played well." Salo, who came to Edmonton from the New York Islanders in March and was 8-2-2 in the regular season, was making his first NHL playoff start. Dallas' Ed Belfour celebrated his 34th birthday by stopping 12 of 13 shots for the win. Salo faced 31 shots. DALLAS STARS 2, Edmonton Oilers 1 1ST 2ND 3RD FINAL --- --- --- ----- Edmonton 0 1 0 1 Dallas 0 0 2 2 FIRST PERIOD - SCORING: None. PENALTIES: Langenbrunner, Dal (interference), 4:29; Smith, Edm (elbowing), 11:25; Matvichuk, Dal (boarding), 16:13. SECOND PERIOD - SCORING: 1, Edmonton, Murray 1 (Falloon, Selivanov), 18:54. PENALTIES: Poti, Edm (roughing), 12:05; Selivanov, Edm (interference), 5:23. THIRD PERIOD - SCORING: 2, Dallas, Lehtinen 1 (Modano, Matvichuk), :13. 3, Dallas, Carbonneau 1 (Reid, Sloan), 13:07. PENALTIES: Weight, Edm, major-game misconduct (boarding), 19:55; Brown, Edm, misconduct; 1959; Marchant, Edm, misconduct, 19:59; Marshall, Dal, misconduct, 19:59; Reid, Dal, misconduct, 19:59. SHOTS ON GOAL 1ST 2ND 3RD TOTAL --- --- --- ----- Edmonton 4 4 5 13 Dallas 3 15 13 31 POWER PLAY: Edmonton 0 of 2; Dallas 0 of 4. GOALIES: Edmonton, Salo 0-1-0 (31 shots-29 saves). Dallas, Belfour 1-0-0 (13-12). Referees: Don Koharski, Mick McGeough. Linesmen: Kevin Collins, Jean Morin. A:17,001 (17,001).