Stars veterans ruin another special night

6/4/98

BY Nicholas J. Cotsonika
The Detroit Free Press

DALLAS -- They fell to the ice together in a dance of delirium, smiling and laughing and carrying on in front of Chris Osgood, the peach-cheeked goalie each had victimized to give their ailing team life.

In the twilight of the game, a few ticks of time from the tolling of midnight for the Dallas Stars' season, a man in the fading moments of his career brought new hope.

Overtime. And every Star was young again.

Only 1:25 remained in regulation when 38-year-old center Guy Carbonneau, in the 190th playoff game of his 17-year NHL career, scored from a sharp angle to tie Game 5 of the Western Conference finals at 2 and keep the proud Stars, winners of the Presidents' Trophy, from being eliminated by the Red Wings on home ice.

Carbonneau's ancient legs propelled him high into the air seconds after the puck snapped into the webbing behind Osgood's shoulder. Right away, he hugged linemate and fellow veteran Mike Keane, who had scored in the first period, and then both collapsed under the weight of the celebrating Stars.

"We were happy," Keane said shortly after the Stars pulled out a 3-2 overtime victory, his face still flushed with excitement. "I didn't think about anything. I just grabbed him."

There were four Stanley Cup rings represented in that embrace. Carbonneau and Keane had won the Cup together as Montreal Canadiens in 1993, when Carbonneau was the Canadiens' captain. Carbonneau won his other in Montreal in 1986; Keane, who is in his 10th NHL season, got his other with the Colorado Avalanche in 1996.

Because of that experience, both players were wise enough to know that the Stars' dire straits didn't mean it was time to give up. Although no team ever has overcome a 3-1 deficit to win an NHL semifinal series, Carbonneau said it was "about time someone -- hopefully us -- has."

All the Stars needed, defenseman Darryl Sydor said, was leadership -- and a couple of timely goals. And those things are what Carbonneau and Keane are in Dallas for.

The Stars traded for Carbonneau three years ago, knowing he would bring to the dressing room the savvy that goes with his stitch-scarred, weathered face. Keane was a trade-deadline acquisition this season.

Down 3-1, veterans had to get it done.

"What those guys give us, more than goals, is that attitude that keeps us going," Stars coach Ken Hitchcock said. "They won't let us do anything but give full effort. They won't let us die."

Keane scored his fourth of the playoffs 14:16 into the first period to give the Stars their all-important first goal. They are now 9-1 in the playoffs when they score first, and Keane's goal, although it was answered by the Wings quickly, set the tone for later.

Behind by one late in the third period, after a long stretch of facing the Wings' demoralizing defense, Carbonneau and Keane hit the ice again. Hitchcock said he wanted them out there, and not the Mike Modano line, because he knew how they had passed past tests -- with calm confidence and without frustration. The result was Carbonneau's goal, his third of the playoffs, which was assisted by Keane.

"Those goals show why those guys are champions," said Jamie Langenbrunner, the 22-year-old kid who scored the game-winner. He was 5 when Carbonneau played his first NHL game. "Carbo led the way for us."

Carbonneau was all over the ice on that last shift, diving and jumping and skating, smacking into other players and slapping at the puck. Nothing and no one could keep him down, and nothing and no one else could show the Stars, young and old, how the game is played.

"It sure gave me a jump," Langenbrunner said. "If he's giving that kind of effort and has that much energy, I have no excuse. It's the winning way."

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