Stars Eliminate Oilers

Archived from 2002-03 season.

2003 Playoffs

Mike Modano scored the game winning goal in the third period the Dallas Stars advanced to the Western Conference semifinals with a 3-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 6 of the first-round series.

"It is a fine line," Modano said. "It's right to the bitter end every time we play them. It could teeter-totter one way or the other. It could go against us real quick as much as it has gone for us. There's no die in the vocabulary of the team. They have a lot of heart and will."

It was also the fifth time in the last six seasons that Edmonton was defeated by Dallas in the playoffs.

"When you build the belief system in the locker room that you can win a series and you don't get it done, it feels empty. It is tough to swallow," Oilers defenseman Steve Staios said. "The most frustrating thing was that it was these guys again. They seem to have our number in the playoffs."

"We said at the start of the series it was going to be tough. They had a good, young team," Stars forward Kirk Muller said. "We got timely goals. We scored some early goals that really gave us the momentum. We knew coming in here how hard it would be and we were prepared for it."

Top-seeded Dallas will play the No. 7 Anaheim Mighty Ducks in the second round. Anaheim stunned Detroit by sweeping the Stanley Cup champion Red Wings in that first-round series.

Kapanen Scores For Flyers
Sami Kapanen scored two goals and Tony Amonte had two assists as the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-1 to take a three games to two lead in the series.

After scoring a career-high 27 goals for Carolina last season, Kapanen had just 11 goals in his last 98 games, including playoffs. He had one goal in 23 playoff games last season when Carolina reached the Stanley Cup finals.

"Being an offensive player and not putting up numbers, you can't help but get frustrated, and start thinking too much," said Kapanen. "Hopefully, this will help my confidence. You get a couple breaks, a lucky bounce and you feel a whole lot better about yourself."

Dmitry Yushkevich and Simon Gagne also scored for the Flyers, who can advance to the second round in Game 6 on Monday night in Toronto.

Aki Berg scored for the Leafs, who had Alexander Mogilny back after the star right wing sat out Game 4 because of concussion symptoms.

"We got the start we wanted, but for some reason, we got away from it," Leafs forward Owen Nolan said.

Wild Stay Alive
Manny Fernandez made 26 saves in his first start of the series and Pascal Dupuis had a goal and an assist as the Minnesota Wild avoided elimination with a 3-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche in Game Five of the Western Conference quarterfinals.

"I always thought that our guys would battle to the end," Minnesota coach Jacques Lemaire said. "I had some doubts last night and today before the game. They showed me that I was wrong to doubt."

The Wild survived to play another day, but their chances still aren't great. Of the 193 teams in league history that have trailed a series 3-1, only seven have come back to win two games on the road.

"Nobody predicted us to be in the playoffs in the first place," Minnesota's Darby Hendrickson said. "We have been resilient, we haven't given up. We're going home and we're excited about that. Anything can happen."

Game 6 is Monday in Minnesota with a potential Game 7 scheduled for Tuesday in Denver.


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