gut check time

The Stars finally played a complete game this series and look what happens when they did. They crushed the Avs in every aspect of the game in a 4-1 victory. The Stars outshot the Avalanche, 39-23 (Bill Guerin had nine shots), had a 21-15 advantage in hits, had 23 blocked shots to Colorado's 16 and won 38-of-59 face-offs. What's more, the penalty kill shut down the vaunted Avs power play on six opportunities. When the Stars show up and play for 3 periods, they're a tough team for anyone to beat. After Friday's game, Philippe Boucher said, "We had flashes and spots in the last two games, but tonight we had 60 minutes. We've shown all year that if we play 60 minutes, we can be a really good team." Quite a novell concept, play the whole game. What should be a 3-1 Stars lead is a 3-1 deficit in this series because they've been playing about 50 minutes, letting up at the end trying to nurse home one goal leads. Turco looked much better, a good call by Tippett to start him. There's still hope. The Stars are the best come from behind team in NHL history. They are playing a franchise that has a history of blowing series leads, and they know they should be ahead in the series. They have to take it one game at a time, and play all 60 minutes.


Stars in 7.