Game Recap

DALLAS 4, COLORADO 1 DALLAS (AP) - If Mike Keane keeps this up, he'll need to find a place for a third Stanley Cup tattoo. Keane, who has images of the two trophies he's won on his left ankle, sent Dallas to the Stanley Cup Finals by beating former teammate Patrick Roy twice as the Stars defeated the Colorado Avalanche 4-1 Friday night in a Game 7 showdown. "I'm not a goal scorer," said Keane, who nonetheless put two past the all-time winningest playoff goalie within 4:05 of the second period to give Dallas a 3-0 lead. "I happened to be in the right place at the right time." Now Dallas is in the right place: the championship round, with home-ice advantage against Eastern Conference champion Buffalo. Dallas will open the series against the Sabres on Tuesday night in the first finals game in Texas. Dallas ended a four-year finals jinx for Presidents' Trophy winners. "There are a lot of talented teams in the National Hockey League, and there are probably teams with a higher skill level than our team ... but I have never seen a group that pulls the way this group does," Dallas coach Ken Hitchcock said. "They take an awful lot of pride in not cracking." The Stars, who won their second straight Presidents' Trophy for the best regular-season record, are in the finals for the first time in their six years in Dallas. The franchise made it twice, losing both, when it was the Minnesota North Stars. The Avalanche failed in their bid for a second title in four years after holding a 3-2 series lead going back to Denver. The Game 7 loss was just their second on the road in 10 playoff games. Colorado had eliminated two-time defending Cup champions Detroit in the second round. "When you get this close, it's very disappointing," Colorado's Claude Lemieux said. "We had quite a few chances in the first period and the bounces went their way. We had a lot of missed opportunities." The Stars controlled all 60 minutes by constantly swarming the puck on defense and refusing to allow the Avalanche's speed advantage to become a factor. By dominating the tempo, Dallas produced the first three-period domination in this classic series between the two top-seeded teams in the West. "We knew if we played our game that we'd have a chance to win," Keane said. "We couldn't get into a shootout with them. The Dallas Stars take pride in defensive hockey." Joe Sakic said Colorado felt stifled by Dallas' defense. "There was not a lot of room to move," said Sakic, who scored the Avalanche's lone goal after they were down 4-0. The 17,001 fans began sensing the victory with 8:41 left as they began chanting, "We want the Cup!" In the game's closing minutes they screamed "Ed-die! Ed-die!" in honor of goaltender Ed Belfour. Belfour, who has gone a long way this postseason to erase his reputation for melting under pressure, stopped 18-of-19 shots to improve to 3-0 in Game 7s. "Everyone knows the things that have been said about him, but he's played so well for us in these playoffs," Stars captain Derian Hatcher said. "We never had any doubt he could play this way." Roy, whose reputation is exactly the opposite of Belfour's, dropped to 2-4 in deciding games. He was out of position on all four Dallas goals, getting faked badly on Keane's second and being behind the net after badly misplaying the puck on Jere Lehtinen's third-period capper. "We didn't give Patty too much help," Colorado forward Adam Deadmarsh said. "If we would've played a little better defense in front of him, it would've made a difference." Colorado had just six shots in the first period as Dallas went ahead 1-0 on a Jamie Langenbrunner goal. The Avs didn't get a shot for the first 14:06 of the second and had only three in the period as the Stars went up 3-0 on Keane's two goals. Keane won Cups with Roy in Montreal in 1993 and in Colorado in 1996. DALLAS STARS 4, Colorado Avalanche 1 1ST 2ND 3RD FINAL --- --- --- ----- Colorado 0 0 1 1 Dallas 1 2 1 4 FIRST PERIOD - SCORING: 1, Dallas, Langenbrunner 9 (Nieuwendyk, Reid), 8:25. PENALTIES: Carbonneau, Dal (roughing), 19:53. SECOND PERIOD - SCORING: 2, Dallas, Keane 4 (Verbeek, Carbonneau), 11:13. 3, Dallas, Keane 5 (Matvichuk), 15:18. PENALTIES: Sakic, Col (cross-checking), 18:20. THIRD PERIOD - SCORING: 4, Dallas, Lehtinen 7, 6:18. 5, Colorado, Sakic 6 (Fleury, Foote), 13:58. PENALTIES: Klemm, Col (high-sticking), 7:37; Modano, Dal (ob.-tripping), 8:57; Yelle, Col (slashing), 11:48. SHOTS ON GOAL 1ST 2ND 3RD TOTAL --- --- --- ----- Colorado 6 3 10 19 Dallas 4 9 12 25 POWER PLAY: Colorado 0 of 2; Dallas 0 of 3. GOALIES: Colorado Roy, 11-8 (25 shots-21 saves). Dallas, Belfour 12-5 (19-18). Referees: Bill McCreary, Don Koharski. Linesmen: Kevin Collins, Dan Schachte. A: 17,001 (16,928).