This time, Ed Belfour had the right prescription.
In 106 minutes and 21 seconds of flawless goaltending last night, Belfour not only turned away 48 shots, he turned away a Devils’ Stanley Cup celebration as the Stars came through with a dramatic 1-0 three-overtime victory in Game 5 at an
exhausted Meadowlands Arena.
“I felt strong tonight,” Belfour said after making 21 saves during the three overtime periods. “I was seeing the puck well.”
Still, it wasn’t his best game.
“When I was a little kid, I stopped 75 shots in a game,” the 35-year-old said. “That was the best game before tonight.”
But no one who stayed up until 1:11 a.m. will forget his performance last night. And when Mike Modano finally scored a tip in of a Brett Hull shot 6:21 into the third OT, the Stars were going back to Dallas for a Game 6.
“We were joking before the game and I said, ‘Stop it Eddie, stop every shot and we’ll win,'” Hull said. “And he said, ‘OK.’ “
So Belfour did as promised. And his teammates were practically numb from exhaustion. But don’t forget the fans, who were wondering how they were going to get up for work this morning.
But at least the defending champion Stars live on for Game 6 tomorrow at Reunion Arena.
“We need Eddie to play well,” Mike Keane said. “We knew the Cup is in the building. Until they win it, it’s ours.”
Heading into Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals last night, Belfour, 35, had given up 12 goals in the first four games.
But at least for Belfour, last night would be different. Repeatedly, the goaltender came up with spectacular saves.
This was a complete turn-around from his Game 1 travesty, when he gave up six goals before being pulled in an embarrassing 7-3 loss. Afterward he had blamed prescription cold medicine for making him drousy.
With his performance last night (which included stopping a spectacular break-away shot by Alexander Magilny midway through the second OT), his head couldn’t have been clearer.
RW Jamie Langenbrunner (sprained right knee) was scratched. After missing the first three games of the series, he came back for Game 4, though he was not completely ready.