Game Recap

DALLAS 5, ST. LOUIS 4 (OT) DALLAS (AP) - Now the Dallas Stars know what they missed by not having Joe Nieuwendyk in the playoffs last year. Nieuwendyk's goal with 11:38 left in overtime gave the Dallas Stars a 5-4 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night and a 2-0 lead in their Western Conference semifinal series. It was his third game-winning goal in the playoffs. The teams will meet at St. Louis on Monday night in the third game of the best-of-7 series. Nieuwendyk took a perfect pass from Sergei Zubov as both teams played a man short in a 4-on-4 situation and whipped a shot from just inside the right circle past the glove of goaltender Grant Fuhr. It was Nieuwendyk's second goal of the game to go along with an assist. He suffered a damaging knee injury last year in the first period of the Stars' first playoff game and they missed his offense when Detroit knocked them out. Nieuwendyk was on the 1989 Calgary team that won the Stanley Cup. "Zuby gave me a nice pass and I was able to take it wide which is something I like to do," Nieuwendyk said. "I hit the crossbar in the third period in a similar situation. This time it went straight in." Dallas coach Ken Hitchcock said Nieuwendyk has been the team's catalyst. "He's making up for lost time," Hitchcock said. "He is a very focused individual. He's a very determined player right now." Dallas struck early in the third period to tie the game at 4 when Jere Lehtinen scored on a rebound after a shot by Mike Modano to send the game into overtime. Pavol Demitra scored his second goal of the game in the second period with just one second left on a 5-on-3 power play to give the Blues a 4-3 lead. Al MacInnis fed Demitra a perfect centering pass and Demitra found the open side of the net to beat a diving Ed Belfour. "My goals don't matter because we lost," Demitra said. "It was a very tough game for us to lose but we have plenty of games left. It was good to finally get some goals against them, and scoring is what I have to do." Scott Young and Pierre Turgeon got the other two goals in a productive second period for the Blues. Turgeon played although he had a sore leg after being slashed by Pat Verbeek in the first game of the series. Nieuwendyk and Mike Keane scored for the Stars in the wild second period when both teams broke away on numerous odd-man rushes. The Stars and Blues traded goals in the first. Jamie Langenbrunner got Dallas on top with a slap shot from the top of the circle that went between Fuhr's legs. Langenbrunner was set up on a crisp pass from Nieuwendyk. The Blues retaliated with just 32.8 seconds left in the period when Demitra skated free and got off a 45-foot shot that got between Belfour's legs. It was the first goal that Belfour had yielded in 152:24. Both Verbeek of the Stars and Jamal Mayers of the Blues weren't available because of the one-game suspensions they drew for slashing incidents in Dallas' 3-0 victory on Thursday night in the first game of the series. The game marked the return of the Stars' Derian Hatcher, who was suspended seven games for breaking the jaw of Phoenix's Jeremy Roenick on April 14. DALLAS STARS 5, St. Louis Blues 4 (OT) 1ST 2ND 3RD OT FINAL --- --- --- --- ----- St. Louis 1 3 0 0 4 Dallas 1 2 1 1 5 FIRST PERIOD - SCORING: 1, Dallas, Langenbrunner 3 (Nieuwendyk, Ludwig), 7:50. 2, St. Louis, Demitra 3 (Pronger, Finley), 19:27. PENALTIES: Young, StL (ob.-hooking), 1:21; Skrudland, Dal (ob.-hooking), 15:58. SECOND PERIOD - SCORING: 3, St. Louis, Young 3 (Turgeon), :53. 4, Dallas, Nieuwendyk 4 (Hatcher, Matvichuk), 5:45. 5, Dallas, Keane 2 (Marshall, Zubov), 9:54. 6, St. Louis, Turgeon 3 (Atcheynum, Courtnall), 14:23. 7, St. Louis, Demitra 4 (MacInnis, Turgeon), 17:29 (pp). PENALTIES: St. Louis bench, served by Hecht (too many men), 1:47; Sloan, Dal (roughing), 4:30; Rivers, StL (high-sticking), 4:30; Nash, StL (elbowing), 7:31; Plante, Dal (boarding), 15:31; Modano, Dal (closing hand on puck), 16:51. THIRD PERIOD - SCORING: 8, Dallas, Lehtinen 3 (Modano, Hull), 4:22. PENALTIES: Yake, StL (hooking), 11:06. OVERTIME - SCORING: 9, Dallas, Nieuwendyk 5 (Zubov, Langenbrunner), 8:22. PENALTIES: Marshall, Dal (roughing), 7:53; Yake, StL (roughing), 7:53. SHOTS ON GOAL 1ST 2ND 3RD OT TOTAL --- --- --- --- ----- St. Louis 13 11 7 3 34 Dallas 6 10 6 3 25 POWER PLAY: St. Louis 1 of 3; Dallas 0 of 4. GOALIES: St. Louis, Fuhr 4-4 (25 shots-20 saves). Dallas, Belfour 6-0 (34-30). Referees: Terry Gregson, Richard Trottier. Linesmen: Mike Cvik, Brad Lazarowich. A: 17,001 (16,928).