Game Recap

DALLAS 2, BUFFALO 1 BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - What could possibly happen next to the star-crossed Dallas Stars? How about winning the Stanley Cup? Joe Nieuwendyk, almost forced to score with Brett Hull out and Mike Modano hampered by a wrist injury, had two goals and the depleted Stars regained home-ice advantage in the Stanley Cup Finals by beating the Buffalo Sabres 2-1 Saturday night. The Stars take a 2-1 edge into Game 4 on Tuesday, with two of the final three games, if necessary, in Dallas. "We're not done yet, but tonight was a big step for us," said Nieuwendyk, who last played in the Stanley Cup finals 10 years ago for Calgary. Nieuwendyk's goals were his 10th and 11th of the playoffs but his first in five games, and might have saved the series for the two-time defending regular season champion Stars. Nothing new there -- Nieuwendyk has seven of the Stars' 15 game-winning playoff goals. Dallas had every reason to lose but didn't, killing off eight Buffalo power plays -- one a two-man advantage -- and overcoming a groin injury that forced Hull to the locker room after less than three minutes of ice time. Hull is eighth in NHL playoff history in scoring and had the game-winning goal in Game 2 in Dallas. His status for Game 4 is uncertain. "If Hull can't play, that's going to be tough, but we've got some good people sitting in the wings. There's a lot of confidence here," Stars coach Ken Hitchcock said. The Stars already were less than 100 percent with Modano, their leading regular-season scorer, bothered by a wrist injury that forced him to take a shot of painkiller. He wasn't a big factor on offense, missing on all five shots, and took three potentially costly penalties in the second period. Yet the Stars persevered in the kind of dig-down-deep effort that NHL coaches lecture about from the day training camp starts. Dallas limited Buffalo -- on the Sabres' home ice, no less -- to fewer shots (3) than power plays (4) in the first period. With Dallas locked tight into their defensive mode, the Sabres rarely pressured goaltender Ed Belfour and were outshot 29-12. "We were pretty tight. We were really squeezing the sticks," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "They gave us a darned good lesson. They suffocated us. We didn't skate well, but a lot of that had to do with the way they played." With Buffalo unable to convert its numerous man-advantage chances, Nieuwendyk tied it at 15:33 of the second by poking in a rebound of his own wrist shot past sprawling Dominik Hasek, who had gone down to play the first shot. Hasek made 27 saves. Nieuwendyk got the game-winner at 9:35 of the third, taking Jamie Langenbrunner's bouncing pass from behind the net to wrist the puck past Hasek for the biggest goal of his career. "That was a goal-scorer's goal," Hitchcock said. "A lot of guys put that puck in position to make a play but don't, but he did. Scorers make those plays." The Sabres' Dixon Ward said, "If he's in front of the net, he'll make you pay. But these games are going to happen. We have to find a way to rebound." Two of the three games have been won by the visiting team _ Buffalo won 3-2 in overtime in Game 1 -- and the loss was Buffalo's first in eight home playoff games. For the third consecutive game, the team that scored the first goal lost. Dallas scored first in Game 1 and the Sabres took the early lead in Dallas' 4-2 victory in Game 2. "It's not coming easy and not coming early, but eventually it's going in for us," Langenbrunner said. Even as the Stars repeatedly took retaliatory penalties to counter Buffalo's physical play, the Sabres' only goal came at even strength. Catching Belfour out of position, Stu Barnes took Richard Smehlik's pass in the right circle and wristed it into the unguarded net at 7:51 of the second for his eighth goal in the playoffs. With both of their big guns hurting, Dallas went into a lockdown mode, killing off a two-man advantage that lasted the final 1:14 of the period and limiting Buffalo to three shots in the both the first and third periods. "This is the first chunk of adversity we're going to have to face," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "We played a bad hockey game. If we play like that, we're going to lose. We have to come out and win Tuesday night and then go from there." Dallas Stars 2, BUFFALO SABRES 1 1ST 2ND 3RD FINAL --- --- --- ----- Dallas 0 1 1 2 Buffalo 0 1 0 1 FIRST PERIOD - SCORING: None. PENALTIES: Ludwig, Dal (interference), 7:45; Chambers, Dal (roughing), 7:45; Rasmussen, Buf (roughing), 7:45; Matvichuk, Dal (roughing), 9:43; Skrudland, Dal (slashing), 18:13; Hatcher, Dal (roughing), 18:46. SECOND PERIOD - SCORING: 1, Buffalo, Barnes 6 (Smehlik, Holzinger), 7:51. 2, Dallas, Nieuwendyk 10 (Reid, Langenbrunner), 15:33. PENALTIES: Zhitnik, Buf (interfernce), 3:38; Modano, Dal (ob.-tripping), 9:54; Modano, Dal (slashing), 12:21; Holzinger, Buf (high-sticking), 19:09; Modano, Dal (interference), 19:23. THIRD PERIOD - SCORING: 3, Dallas, Nieuwendyk 11 (Langenbrunner, Reid), 9:35. PENALTIES: Hrkac, Dal (tripping), 17:38. SHOTS ON GOAL 1ST 2ND 3RD TOTAL --- --- --- ----- Dallas 8 13 8 29 Buffalo 3 6 3 12 POWER PLAY: Dallas 0 of 2; Buffalo 0 of 8. GOALIES: Dallas, Belfour 14-6 (12 shots-11 saves). Buffalo, Hasek 12-4 (29-27). Referees: Terry Gregson, Don Koharski. Linesmen: Ray Scapinello, Jay Sharrers. A:18,595 (18,595).