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Roy gets shutout, Colorado gets lead

 
Published May 20, 2000|Updated Sept. 27, 2005

Patrick Roy had the opposition seeing Stars again.

Roy tied an NHL record with his 15th career playoff shutout as the Colorado Avalanche beat the Dallas Stars 2-0 on Friday night.

Shjon Podein and Adam Deadmarsh scored and rookie Martin Skoula had two assists as Colorado took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference final. Game

4 is Sunday in Denver, where the Avalanche is 7-0 in the playoffs.

Roy matched the shutout mark set by Clint Benedict of Ottawa and the Montreal Maroons in the 1920s, and extended his league record for playoff victories to 120.

Roy, whose 21 saves included a stop on Brett Hull on a breakaway early in the third period, also beat Dallas 2-0 in the first game of the series.

Asked what the shutout meant, Roy said, "It's not that important for me. I've never really been a shutout goaltender, but maybe I could have that habit now.

"It's fun the way the guys are playing in front of me. Tonight, they were very sharp, and our penalty killing was a big key. Killing those two penalties right off the start gave us momentum."

Roy insisted he wasn't aware of his lofty playoff shutout status "until the last time when I saw I was tied with Jacques Plante (for second place). What's more important is to see the team play the way it is right now."

Defenseman Ray Bourque returned to the Colorado lineup after missing four games because of a knee injury. He helped replace Adam Foote, the defenseman sidelined by an eye injury.

"As the game went on, I just felt very comfortable," Bourque said. "It was nice to get into a game and know that I'm over the hump and I'm fine. If there was any doubt, I think everybody realizes that I'm all set to go."

Bourque played a game-high 35 minutes, 35 seconds.

"I didn't have any problems at all moving around and felt very comfortable," Bourque said. "This was a humongous win. Patrick was unbelievable. Really, all four lines played a super game."

Dallas allowed 40 shots, a playoff high through 13 games. Ed Belfour made 38 saves.

Dallas' top playoff scorers _ Hull, Mike Modano, Joe Nieuwendyk and Jamie Langenbrunner _ failed to get off any shots in the first two periods. Modano, who scored twice in Dallas' 3-2 win in Game 2 and holds the Stars' career playoff goal record, finished with no shots.

"I thought we were beat in pretty much every area," Stars coach Ken Hitchcock said. "I thought the reason we took penalties was because we were in our end all night.

"Colorado has a very strong focus right now and is playing at a higher level than we are. If we expect to win Game 4 and extend this series, we're going to have to raise our level of play. In the gritty areas, they outplayed us tonight. They beat us to the loose pucks, they were stronger in front of our net than we were in front of their net."

Modano said Belfour was "our best player. He kept us in the game. But when you don't have a lot of quality chances, if you don't get the puck to the net and create enough off the forecheck, you aren't going to beat that team. We wore ourselves out as penalty-killers."

Colorado had 10 power plays; Dallas three.

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