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BOX SCORE
DALLAS (AP) -- Brett Hull is erasing the memory of a horrible regular season with a torrid start to the postseason.
|  | | Brenden Morrow of the Stars, left, turns the puck away from Rem Murray. |
Hull, whose goal ended the Stanley Cup finals last season, closed out the Dallas Stars' first-round victory over the Edmonton Oilers by blasting in the winning goal in a 3-2 game Friday night.
"I've been fortunate that a few shots have gone in," said Hull, who led Dallas with three goals and six points in the five-game series. "We've got a lot of guys trying to pick up the slack."
The Stars opened their title defense with an incredibly balanced scoring attack: 11 players scored their 14 goals in the series. Mike Modano was the only other player with more than one.
Jamie Langenbrunner and defenseman Derian Hatcher were the new
scorers Friday. Langenbrunner gave Dallas a 1-0 lead by scoring on
a power play early in the second period, then Hatcher made it 2-1
just 87 seconds after the Oilers tied it later in the period.
Edmonton forced another tie 1:03 into the third period when a
shot from behind the net by Jim Dowd caromed off Hatcher's skate
and went by goaltender Ed Belfour before he knew what happened.
The winning goal was set up when Joe Nieuwendyk left the puck for Hull in the high slot. Hull, who has more career playoff goals (80) than any player participating in this postseason, wound up and
drilled it to the right of Edmonton's Tommy Salo.
"That's what I'm supposed to do," Hull said. "That's my job.
I live to score goals."
By winning in five games, the Stars got the next-best thing to a
sweep: three home victories and a split on the road. They
desperately wanted to avoid another trip to Edmonton's raucous
Skyreach Centre and will get some extra rest before learning their
second-round opponent, either Colorado or San Jose.
"I really did not want to jump on a plane tomorrow," Hatcher
said. "We wanted to spend Easter at home."
The Oilers will be going home again wondering how to beat the
Stars -- or, maybe, trying to figure out a way to avoid them. This
is the third straight year Dallas has eliminated Edmonton from the
playoffs. The Oilers have lost 12 straight games at Reunion Arena.
"We've got to get better as a team and an organization because
we've got a couple of years of not getting to the next level,"
coach Kevin Lowe said. "We need to tweak it here and there."
Said defenseman Tom Poti: "They stick to their game plan for the whole 60 minutes. As a team we have to learn from that."
The Stars won their seventh straight knockout game since 1998.
Belfour, celebrating his 35th birthday, made 24 saves as he upped
his record to 14-2 in games that can end a playoff series.
Salo, who also stopped 24 shots, fell to 1-8 in the playoffs -- with all the games against Dallas.
The Oilers did not lead in any of the three games at Reunion,
but they made this one interesting by matching the Stars
shot-for-shot, hit-for-hit and nearly goal-for-goal. Both teams
even had about the same number of missed opportunities.
Dallas broke through first with Langenbrunner's goal on the
Stars' sixth power play. His point-blank shot came during a 5-on-4
advantage, but at the time it was more like 5-on-2 because Bill
Guerin was barely out of the penalty box and Jason Smith had lost
his stick.
"We had a couple of bad breaks," forward Ryan Smyth said.
Modano and Nieuwendyk both had two assists. For Modano, the two
points give him 84 in his postseason career, breaking the club
record set by Brian Bellows. Modano broke Bellows' career franchise
goals record this season.
The seventh-seeded Oilers were without Doug Weight for more than 20 minutes in the late second period and early third because of
back spasms.
Dallas was without defenseman Sergei Zubov, who skated Thursday and was thought to have had a 50-50 chance of playing. He probably will return for the second round, as could forward Jere Lehtinen.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Edmonton Clubhouse
Dallas Clubhouse
RECAPS
St. Louis 5
San Jose 3
Pittsburgh 2
Washington 1
Dallas 3
Edmonton 2
Colorado 2
Phoenix 1
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Brett Hull scores his 2nd straight series-winning goal.
avi: 654 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Derian Hatcher slips the puck past Tommy Salo.
avi: 694 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Todd Marchant scores off the rebound.
avi: 717 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Joe Nieuwendyk takes a stick to the face.
avi: 846 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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