Game Recap

DALLAS 4, EDMONTON 3 (OT) DALLAS (AP) - Dallas' Grumpy Old Men are making life miserable for the Edmonton Oilers. John MacLean scored the tying goal with 4:22 left in regulation, then assisted on Kirk Muller's winner 8:01 into overtime, giving the Stars a 4-3 victory Thursday night and a 3-2 lead in the first-round series. Mike Keane, the third member of the line of 30-something veterans whose names are on the Stanley Cup five times, assisted on both goals as the Stars recovered from an early third-period meltdown. "To me it's fitting, because the entire team followed their lead all night," Dallas coach Ken Hitchcock said. The Stars will try ending the series, which has featured four overtime games and all five decided by one goal, on Saturday in Edmonton. A victory would send Dallas into the second round and continue the Stars' quest to become the first team to reach three straight Stanley Cup Finals since the Oilers in 1983-85. Muller, MacLean and Keane were breaking into the NHL around then. Now ages 35, 36 and 33, they've played a combined 393 playoff games and are still coming up big. "That's why Keane, Muller and MacLean are a sought-after commodity, because they're gritty and score big goals at key times," Edmonton coach Craig MacTavish said. The amazing thing is that Dallas pulled Muller out of a forced retirement in the middle of last season, then rescued MacLean from the minors this season. "They get very offended when people tell them they're old and they're not able to compete," Hitchcock said. "This is their time of year to compete. This is when they shine. They love it." Another indication of veteran leadership: This was the sixth straight time Dallas has won Game 5 of a series tied at 2. The younger, fresher-legged Oilers surprisingly came out flat after a bone-crunching victory in the previous game. Not only did they not hit Dallas much, they didn't shoot much, either. Edmonton had just five shots through two periods and were down 2-0 on goals by Jere Lehtinen and Jamie Langenbrunner. Oilers right wing Anson Carter said they had "no spunk ... no grit." Then Carter, Doug Weight and Eric Brewer scored on consecutive shots in a 2:57 span early in the third period to put Edmonton ahead 3-2 with 14:31 left. "We weren't battling hard. We were going through the motions and I don't know why," Carter said. "When we turned up the effort in the third period, we were a totally different club." Dallas got a boost about five minutes later when Mike Modano returned after taking a puck off his nose late in the second period. Modano took 25 stitches and had a purplish lump across the bridge of his nose. DALLAS STARS 4, Edmonton Oilers 3 (OT) 1ST 2ND 3RD OT FINAL --- --- --- --- ----- Edmonton 0 0 3 0 3 Dallas 1 1 1 1 4 FIRST PERIOD - SCORING: 1, Dallas, Lehtinen 1 (Ledyard, Hull), 6:02. PENALTIES: Muller, Dal (boarding), 6:29; Niinimaa, Edm (holding), 11:03; Murray, Edm (roughing), 14:53; Grier, Edm (roughing), 14:53; Van Allen, Dal (roughing), 14:53. SECOND PERIOD - SCORING: 2, Dallas, Langenbrunner 2 (Morrow, Van Allen), 1:12. PENALTIES: Hogue, Dal (goalie interference), 7:37; Niinimaa, Edm (ob.-tripping), 8:40. THIRD PERIOD - SCORING: 3, Edmonton, Carter 3 (Comrie, Brewer), 2:32. 4, Edmonton, Weight 1 (Niinimaa, Smyth), 3:04. 5, Edmonton, Brewer 1 (Cleary, Weight), 5:29 (pp). 6, Dallas, MacLean 1 (Zubov, Keane), 15:48. PENALTIES: Hogue, Dal (slashing), 4:39; Marchant, Edm (hooking), 12:54. OVERTIME - SCORING: 7, Dallas, Muller 1 (MacLean, Keane), 8:01. PENALTIES: None. SHOTS ON GOAL 1ST 2ND 3RD OT TOTAL --- --- --- --- ----- Edmonton 2 3 10 3 18 Dallas 10 12 7 5 34 POWER PLAY: Edmonton 1 of 3; Dallas 0 of 4. GOALIES: Edmonton, Salo 2-3 (34 shots-30 saves). Dallas, Belfour 3-2 (18-15). Referees: Don Koharski, Kevin Pollock. Linesmen: Brad Kovachik, Dan Schachte. A: 17,001 (17,001).