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EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) -- The Dallas Stars leaned on their veterans to lead them to the brink of another playoff series victory.
Brett Hull, Mike Modano, Guy Carbonneau and Joe Nieuwendyk carried the defending Stanley Cup champions to a 4-3 win Tuesday night and a 3-1 lead in their first-round series against the Edmonton Oilers.
|  | | Heckled throughout the game, Stars goalie Ed Belfour had to hide in the net after giving up a hat trick to Edmonton's Bill Guerin. |
The Stars can advance in the Western Conference playoffs with a win at home Friday night.
Oilers goalie Tommy Salo appeared screened by defenseman Igor Ulanov when Carbonneau's shot from the high slot went over his glove hand, breaking a 3-3 tie just 5:01 into the final period.
Carbonneau, a 40-year-old center, atoned for a first-period misconduct penalty he earned for complaining about the refereeing.
"When I came back to the bench, I wanted to try to help the team," he said. "Obviously that goal was a good start."
Bill Guerin scored all three goals for Edmonton. Hull, Modano and Richard Matvichuk also scored for Dallas.
Guerin played down his hat trick, his first-ever in the playoffs and the second by an Oilers player in two games. Doug Weight had three goals in Edmonton's 5-2 win Sunday.
"This isn't the time of year to worry about points and goals," Guerin said. "Hat tricks are good but you've got to win."
Dallas capitalized on Edmonton defensive lapses to take a quick 2-0 lead in the first period.
Hull, who also had an assist, scored on a rebound at 5:02 after the Oilers' Tom Poti failed to clear the puck.
"Brett did what he had to do," Dallas coach Ken Hitchcock said. "He scored and he was ready to load it up every shift."
Nieuwendyk didn't score, but had his best game of the series, menacing the Oilers in the offensive zone and rattling one shot off the crossbar.
"He was a threat and we were able to come at people with a bit of a one-two punch," Hitchcock said of Nieuwendyk.
Matvichuk caught the Oilers running around in their own end 48 seconds later and scored on a slap shot from the point.
But Guerin tied the game before the period was finished.
Modano gave the Stars a 3-2 lead in the second when he cut through the slot and fired a rebound past Salo. The Stars continued to swarm around the Dallas net, but couldn't put the Oilers away.
"It was simply a case of us stopping (the game plan of) shooting the puck," Oilers coach Kevin Lowe said. "The positive was we were able to battle back on a team that doesn't allow that to happen very often."
With less than two minutes to go in the second, Guerin walked in to the left of goalie Ed Belfour and hammered a long slap shot that skipped over Belfour's glove hand and into the net.
That sent the 17,100 fans at Skyreach Centre into a frenzy for the second consecutive game. Hats, white foam noodles and foam puckheads cascaded down to salute the hat trick.
The crowd taunted Belfour early and often. They heckled him in warmups, during the national anthem and throughout the game, sarcastically chanting "Belfour! Belfour!" and waving a forest of white foam noodles in his direction.
Stars forward Blake Sloan was knocked out of the game early after he was hit in the face with a stick. Edmonton center Todd Marchant, believed to be the victim of a hard Derian Hatcher hit, was out for the second straight game.
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NHL Scoreboard
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RECAPS
Buffalo 3
Philadelphia 2
New Jersey 2
Florida 1
Dallas 4
Edmonton 3
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Guy Carbonneau scores the game-winner.
avi: 571 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Tommy Salo makes a great save and then is saved by Doug Weight.
avi: 795 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
 Guy Carbonneau discusses the Stars' strategy going into game 4.
wav: 152 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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