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Friday, November 3, 2000
Stars are right at home
in a series of survivors
By George Johnson
Special to ESPN.com
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This is where the Dallas Stars thrive. Where they work to maneuver you. The inevitable place that warring sets of foot soldiers reach in a series when there has been a toll taken on the body, and the mind begins to play cruel tricks.
And we're only two games in.
|  | | Jere Lehtinen is a Stars survivor, having returned from an ankle injury. |
If the Colorado Avalanche feel most comfortable taking on the role of a younger Ali, moving, sticking, using their speed, snapping off jabs and keeping their distance; the Stars are Joe Frazier, hooking to the body, wearing you down and waiting for that moment of frustration, pain or intolerance when your guard inevitably drops an inch or two. At that moment, Dallas is only too glad to roll the dice and takes its chances.
"It's a little bit about winning and a lot about surviving," Stars coach Ken Hitchcock is fond of saying of the playoffs.
The moment of truth has arrived for the Avalanche. Yes, already.
Talent has never been an issue with them. The depth of their resolve will now be put to the test, at home where they are expected to shine, are expected to entertain and are expected to win.
Colorado's thinnest area, the defensive brigade, is threatening to become transparent. Sure, the extended TV timeout/Tina Turner concert delay has provided the ligaments in Ray Bourque's injured knee additional time to heal. But how the knee responds to the rigors of the task remains to be seen. In any case, we're told his blueline buddy, Adam Foote, definitely will not be in uniform for at least Game 3, the result of "blunt trauma" and bleeding in his right eye, courtesy an inadvertent Jere Lehtinen follow-through on a backhand shot.
In Foote's absence, Bourque is expected to be partnered with Aaron Miller.
Foote -- big, strong and nasty -- has been logging a ton of minutes and playing them like a legitimate Conn Smythe Trophy candidate. His loss for an extended period would be incalculable.
It is an orbital fracture? A detached retina? Merely blurred vision? As is playoff custom, the "just-the-facts-m'am" are being guarded more closely than Leonardo DiCaprio's home phone number.
If Foote's problem wasn't enough of a concern, Sandis Ozolinsh, Colorado's reply to the offensive gifts provided the Stars by Darryl Sydor and especially Sergei Zubov, hobbled off the ice late in Game 2 following a collision with Mike Modano. The Avs are calling the problem "a bruised foot." Yeah, so was Bourque's, they told us. At least initially.
"Whispering is part of your game," contended Colorado coach Bob Hartley, when the subject of possible playoff cover-up was broached by the media. "It's not part of my game."
Ozolinsh skated Wednesday with the Avs, but how well he can hold up, too, is a looming question mark.
A hampered Ozolinsh, 90 percent of Bourque and no Foote simply won't cut it against Sydor, Zubov, Matvichuk, Hatcher and the rest of that sturdy Dallas defense. And championships, as the saying goes, are won or lost behind a team's own blueline.
Oh, it's not as if the Stars aren't a bit battered, as well. Rookie first-liner Brenden Morrow is gone for the duration because of a broken ankle. Right winger Brett Hull is likely going to require abdominal surgery when this is all said and done. There is the customary list of bumps and bruises, aches and pains.
"This is a war of attrition," Hitchcock went on. "We lose a player or two. They lose a player or two. It's part of playoffs. Each team has to dig down deep within itself. Then it becomes basic."
For motivation, the Avalanche will doubtless use Bourque's return. The Stars will doubtless counter with Foote's absence.
What must the Avalanche do to turn the series back in their favor?
In Denver, they call captain Sakic "Quoteless Joe" for his willing, but mentally tape-recorded, answers to questions. In this series, he has been Goal-less Joe, too. In fact, arguably the best all-around player on either side has yet to register his first point of the series. Peter Forsberg and Adam Deadmarsh have held up their end of the bargain, contributing three points apiece.
But captain Joe has yet to get untracked. That has to change.
Colorado's abundance of kiddie riches had better mature in a big hurry. Regular-season success is one thing. Playoff success quite another. Nothing tangible yet from Chris Drury or Alex Tanguay, so far overwhelmed by the grit and guile of Dallas' senior-citizen set. Milan Hejduk has a goal but as yet couldn't be considered anything resembling a force to be reckoned with.
So far, the series everyone anticipated with such child-like joy has been intense, tough, but lacking in jaw-dropping explosiveness. Which, naturally enough, plays right in the hands of the defending champs.
This series might have shifted to Denver, but the Stars -- as we delve deeper into this series, as the body count grows and it takes everyone a bit longer to lurch out of bed in the morning -- must feel as if they're on home turf, regardless.
George Johnson covers the NHL for the Calgary Sun. His Western Conference column appears every week during the season on ESPN.com.
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ALSO SEE
ESPN.com's NHL playoffs coverage
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