| Friday, November 3
By George Johnson
Special to ESPN.com |
|
The screws are tightening. The stakes magnifying.
He may have control of the better, deeper team, the defending champs, the
prohibitive choice in this Western Conference semifinal series against the
eighth seed from San Jose. But at 2-1, with Game 4 to be contested in the
feeding frenzy that is the Shark Tank, no man in full possession of his
faculties would be issuing any guarantees.
|  | | Ray Bourque isn't young for the NHL, but he's been rejuvenated in Colorado. |
Yet the customarily congenial Ken Hitchcock isn't jumpy or irritable or in
the least bit on edge.
As a matter of fact ...
"This? This is fun," enthuses the Stars coach. "If this doesn't
get the old juices going, better check your pulse to see if it's still
working. This is the game at its purest. When it's all on the line. All that
matters is winning. Everything's magnified. The hockey in this series has
been just ... incredible. The work ethic and the passion, from both sides ...
exemplary.
"Are we in a battle. Wow!
"The line is always fine in the NHL today but get down to this time of year,
it's even finer. Almost transparent. This time of year is all about adversity
and how teams handle it. Both San Jose and our team have been really stifling
defensively. I think their six defensemen have been largely unheralded,
really outstanding, first in the St. Louis series and now against us.
"Usually that brings the outcome down to goaltending and special teams -- and
our four power-play goals have held us in pretty good account there.
"To win in the playoffs, you need to feel confident that you can turn a
scorless tie or a a 1-1 game your way. You can't panic or change the way you
play. You need to stay patient, stay with the program and have faith in your
ability to make a big play.
"We continue to improve as this goes along. We understand we have to play
better to emerge from this series but we're encouraged by what we've seen."
And why for heaven's sakes not? Eddie Belfour's at the top of his form in
goal. Mike Modano, Dallas' best forward, has been Dallas' best forward. Guy
Carbonneau is playing as if he hadn't checked his birth certificate in a
decade. Brett Hull's got that goal-famished look in his eyes again. The
additions of Dave Manson and Sylvain Cote to the defensive brigade shored up
an already deep blueline corps. The coach anticipates both Jamie
Langenbrunner and Jere Lehtinen back in harness.
"Getting those two back helps us big time," Hitchcock says. "The difference in the playoffs is invariably timely goals. That's what success or failure comes
down to. Those two people bring more of that to our lineup, to complement (Joe) Nieuwendyk and Hull and, well, Modano's just been flying out there.
"Look at the Colorado-Detroit series. Two great teams. A fierce struggle. But
Colorado's getting the timely goals. Detroit isn't. And that's the only thing
to separate them through four games.
"We haven't scored a lot in these playoffs. But we're managing that crucial
goal at the key time, receiving great goaltending and playing good, solid
defense."
Yes, Big D is beginning to hone that methodical, almost clinical, efficiency
which carried it all the way to the promised land last spring. Outside of a
bit of Modano improvisation, these guys don't knock anybody's eyeballs out
with their razzle-dazzle, they just grind you under heel.
"We've been really good in both series," judges the Stars' most hardline
critic. "What I like about us now is that one night we play, the next day we
march. Regardless of what happened to us the night before, the next day we
march on.
"We now realize a series isn't won or lost in 24 hours. That 5-2 pasting we
took in Game 3 of the Edmonton series would've taken us four days to get
over three years ago. Just taken all the air out of the balloon. It didn't
this year. We just marched."
Similar to a platoon of African red army ants levelling a village.
Faced with the prospect of going home even, 2-2, with the Oil, the Stars
summoned up that championship grit, that deciding resolve, which has every
chance of setting them apart again this playoff season.
They beat back Edmonton at Skyreach and closed the deal in Game 5 at Reunion.
A similar task awaits them now in the Silicon Valley.
At the outset, many prognosticators viewed San Jose-Dallas as a five-game
series, max. The Stars, though, as is their mindset, are simply anticipating
it going the limit. Anything less is a bonus.
"The way San Jose is playing doesn't surprise me in the slightest," argues
Hitchcock. "This is the same way they played against us all six times during
the regular season. They beat us pretty handily."
When this series opened, many wondered if San Jose's dramatic, emotional
seven-game upset of the President's Trophy-winning St. Louis Blues might not
have been draining enough to make it easy prey for the well-rested Stars; or
whether the Sharks would be satisfied with what they had already
accomplished, subconciously consider their own little Stanley Cup and suffer
a fatal letdown in Round 2.
Hitchcock, for one, wasn't banking on either.
"One of two things can happen in that sort of situation. Either a team can
have expended all its energy in just winning the first series and never quite
get it back or if they've been a team shackled by expectation or bad luck or
injuries, feel that those shackles have somehow been removed and just feel
unburdened and ... go.
"The Sharks are playing like a team with a lot of wind in their sails. So are
we. That's why this has been such a passionate series. The emotion, the
energy level, is extremely high. Which is why I mean it when I say this time
of year is fun.
"There are 20 teams at home, sitting around watching us play on TV. We've got
a chance to do some more damage, to move on. Right now, I'd say we're as good
as any team in this conference. A month ago I couldn't have made that
statement. Now, I can, in all honesty. I'm sure San Jose feels the same way.
"So, nervous? I'm not nervous. I'm excited. Excited to see how we'll react to
this challenge."
All things being equal, Hitchcock and his Stars will react as we all expect
them to: Like champions.
George Johnson covers the NHL for the Calgary Sun. His Western Conference column appears every week during the season on ESPN.com. |  |
