Playoffs 2000:Avs bounced by Stars again

Avs bounced by Stars again
Associated Press

DALLAS -- Another Game 7 collapse by the Colorado Avalanche, but at least this one was close.

Colorado didn't get blown out this time, losing 3-2 at Dallas on Saturday night in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals only after a potential game-tying goal by Ray Bourque was deflected and bounced off the post with less than 10 seconds left.


	Avs defenseman Ray Bourque fell one round short of his goal of winning the Stanley Cup.

"I didn't actually see it. I was just trying to get it to the net, we were buzzing," said Bourque, who in 21 NHL seasons has never been on a Stanley Cup winner.

The final flurry couldn't wipe out the way the Avalanche started.

"We came out timid and that was the difference of the game. I was very surprised how we came out," Bourque said. "We were tentative, we sat back and waited, but they came out hard against us."

After falling short of a three-goal comeback, the Avalanche were eliminated from the NHL playoffs in a seventh game for the third year in a row. Dallas, meanwhile, is going back to the Stanley Cup finals.

"We were back on our heels. It's tough to spot them three," said Colorado left winger Dave Reid, a member of the Stars' Stanley Cup championship team a year ago. "It's very disappointing and frustrating. We had just as good a team, if not better than the Stars."

En route to their championship last year, the Stars beat Colorado 4-1 in the deciding seventh game in Dallas. In 1998, the Avalanche had a 3-1 series lead in the first round against Edmonton before losing three straight games, the last 4-0.

The failed comeback and one-goal loss this time further magnified an early penalty by Dave Andreychuk, the same Colorado player who drew fire for an elbow to the head that knocked Dallas defender Richard Matvichuk out of Game 6 but didn't draw a penalty.

With only 16 seconds left in the first period Saturday night, Andreychuk was called for roughing when he made a vicious hit on Darryl Sydor on the side near center ice well behind the play. Sydor fell hard to the ground as his helmet popped off, much like Matvichuk's two nights earlier.

"I kind of expected they would call it because of the no call the other night. I was trying to protect myself more than anything," Andreychuk said. "On that power play, they zipped it around pretty well."

The pending power play led to Mike Modano's goal with just 5.5 seconds left in the first period, not only providing the Stars a 2-0 lead but momentum that carried until Colorado scored both of its goals.

Dallas led 3-0 before Peter Forsberg's shorthanded goal 5:25 into the third period. Just three minutes later, Milan Hejduk scored when he redirected a shot that bounced under Dallas goalie Ed Belfour.

The Avalanche were held to two goals or less in all seven games. Not since the NHL went to best-of-7 playoffs in 1943 has a team won a conference final without scoring three goals in at least two games.

This Western Conference series was touted as a matchup of two of hockey's best goalies -- Belfour and Patrick Roy of the Avalanche. By the third period Saturday, the 100th straight sellout of 17,001 at Reunion Arena was chanting "Eddie's better" and "Roy Who?" As for as Game 7s, they were right.

Belfour is now 4-0 in his Game 7 appearances. Roy is 2-5 and lost four straight in that situation, allowing a combined 16 goals in those losses.