Game Recap

DALLAS 2, EDMONTON 5 EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) - Doug Weight and the Edmonton Oilers aren't going away without a fight. Weight scored his first career playoff hat trick, leading the Oilers to an emotional 5-2 playoff victory over the defending Stanley Cup champion Dallas Stars on Sunday night. "He played totally unbelievable," Edmonton forward Georges Laraque said of Weight. "Every time he was on the ice he was creating something and was a threat. It's not just the goals. "Every game he works hard for us and it's nice to see him get rewarded with a hat trick, because he makes plays all the time." The Oilers trail the Stars 2-1 in the best-of-7 Western Conference first-round series. Game 4 is Tuesday night in Edmonton. "Give them credit -- they did exactly what they had to do and they played well, played hard and played with a lot of emotion," Stars winger Kirk Muller said. Weight's third goal, on a power play just over six minutes into second period, gave the Oilers a 5-1 lead. Weight, allowed to walk through the faceoff circle to the left of Ed Belfour, snapped a wrist shot between the legs of the Stars goalie as 17,100 fans erupted in cheers and a cascade of hats, helmets and foam puckheads. The victory ended a string of nine consecutive playoff losses to the Stars, who have dominated Edmonton since the Oilers upset Dallas in the first round of the 1997 playoffs. "It was good old-fashioned Oilers hockey," Edmonton coach Kevin Lowe said. "Our leaders led and our foot soldiers did what they have done most of the season." Sunday's game was a reversal of the first two. This time, the Oilers set the tone and dominated the play, with the Stars running around in their own end and taking retaliatory penalties. "Their level of desperation was far above ours," Stars coach Ken Hitchcock said. "I would imagine today's game will probably be the way every game will be played for the rest of the playoffs. It's the way these two teams go at each other." Edmonton outshot Dallas 38-28. The Oilers had 22 shots in the first period, setting a club playoff record for shots in a period. They had only 31 total shots in the first two games in Dallas. "It was crucial we had to get some shots and generate some chances in their zone," Oilers winger Ryan Smyth said. "That's exactly what we had to do and we went to work." Weight opened the scoring 8:40 in when the puck appeared to bounce off his lower leg and past Belfour in a goal-mouth scramble. He made it 3-0 on a power play with three minutes left in the first when he hammered a shot from the high slot through traffic and over Belfour's outstretched right pad. Smyth and Jim Dowd also scored for the Oilers. Mike Modano and Brendan Morrow scored for Dallas. EDMONTON OILERS 5, Dallas Stars 2 1ST 2ND 3RD FINAL --- --- --- ----- Dallas 0 2 0 2 Edmonton 3 2 0 5 FIRST PERIOD - SCORING: 1, Edmonton, Weight 1 (Cleary, Guerin), 8:40. 2, Edmonton, Dowd 1 (Niinimaa), 9:56. 3, Edmonton, Weight 2 (Murray, Titov), 17:00 (pp). PENALTIES: Smith, Edm (interference), 3:10; Thornton, Dal (ob.- holding stick), 4:27; Sloan, Dal (high-sticking), 5:03; Laraque, Edm (roughing), 10:16; Matvichuk, Dal (charging), 15:35; Dowd, Edm (cross-checking), 17:26; Smyth, Edm (high-sticking), 18:22. SECOND PERIOD - SCORING: 4, Edmonton, Smyth 1 (Moreau), 1:16 (sh). 5, Dallas, Morrow 1 (Sydor, Hatcher), 2:32 (pp). 6, Edmonton, Weight 3 (Guerin, Hamrlik), 6:13 (pp). 7, Dallas, Modano 1 (Langenbrunner), 10:59. PENALTIES: Guerin, Edm (high-sticking), :37; Morrow, Dal (ob.-tripping), 4:29; Manson, Dal, major (fighting), 8:06; Smith, Edm (roughing), 8:06; S.Brown, Edm, major (fighting), 8:06; Belfour, Dal, served by Pushor (ob.-tripping), 15:14; Nieuwendyk, Dal (goalie interference), 18:16; Cleary, Edm (cross-checking), 18:57. THIRD PERIOD - SCORING: None. PENALTIES: Dowd, Edm (ob.-tripping), 1:51; Muller, Dal (roughing), 15:03; Hamrlik, Edm (ob.-holding-stick), 16:32. Langenbrunner, Dal (roughing), 18:20; Ulanov, Edm (roughing), 18:20; Marshall, Dal (roughing), 19:51; Laraque, Edm (roughing), 19:51; Bouchard, Dal, major (fighting), 20:00; Manson, Dal, misconduct, 20:00; S.Brown, Edm, misconduct (cross-checking), 20:00; Guerin, Edm, major (fighting), 20:00. SHOTS ON GOAL 1ST 2ND 3RD TOTAL --- --- --- ----- Dallas 7 9 12 28 Edmonton 22 11 5 38 POWER PLAY: Dallas 1 of 9; Edmonton 2 of 7. GOALIES: Dallas, Belfour 2-1 (38 shots-33 saves). Edmonton, Salo 1-2 (28-26). Referees: Mark Faucette, Don Van Massenhoven. Linesmen: Pierre Champoux, Ray Scapinello. A: 17,100 (17,100).