Frozen Moment: Belfour's bad day
By Joe Lago
ESPN.com
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- If you thought Ed Belfour just wasn't his usual
stop-everything-in-sight self early in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals,
you were right.
If you thought he was on drugs after yielding six goals in New Jersey's 7-3
domination, well, you were right again.
Seriously.
The sight of Belfour getting yanked early in the third period of any
playoff game was as shocking as the final outcome Tuesday. But that's what happened to the Stars goaltender after he surrendered his sixth goal at 3:02 of the third period and begrudgingly skated to the bench in favor of backup Manny Fernandez.
Afterward, Belfour revealed that his rare poor game was due to a nagging cold and
an antibiotic and decongestant that sapped him of his reflexes and smarts. Surely, the warning label had to mention something about operating heavy machinery -- or at least a goalie stick.
|  | | Belfour wasn't feeling well during the game. And he definitely didn't feel better after allowing six goals on 18 shots in the Game 1 loss. |
"Hopefully, I can get over it and feel a little better for the next game,"
Belfour said. "I didn't feel like I had a lot of energy tonight and was
making bad decisions -- misjudging the puck and stuff like that."
Belfour had not allowed more than two goals throughout Dallas' Western
Conference final victory against Colorado. But on Tuesday, he let in two
goals in the first three minutes of the third period to force Ken Hitchcock
to bring in Fernandez.
With New Jersey already enjoying a 4-1 lead going into the third,
fourth-line wing Sergei Brylin beat Belfour at 2:21 and Petr
Sykora notched his second goal of the night 41 seconds later. Belfour left
the ice stopping just 12 of the 18 shots he faced.
"They played a pretty good offensive game, and I definitely wasn't on my
game," said Belfour, who carried a 1.81 goals-against average into the finals.
"I wasn't making the stops I should be making. I didn't have much energy, and
I don't think our team played with a lot of energy."
When did Belfour realize that his medicine was having an adverse affect on
his play? "After six goals," he replied.
The defense didn't do Belfour any favors. From the drop of the puck, the
Stars' play in their own zone was a mess as defenseman Sergei Zubov finished a minus-4 and Mike Modano and Brett Hull each ended up a minus-3.
"We were making a lot of mistakes in our zone," forward Scott Thornton said.
"That's not the way we've played all year."
Added forward Mike Keane: "The bottom line: We have to play better in front
of Eddie."
Belfour expects to play better in Game 2 on Thursday. He and the Stars
couldn't wait to go back to their hotel and forget about this nightmare -- if
they could sleep.
"I am definitely going to come to the rink with the attitude that I have to
play better and make the saves and try to play the best game that I can,"
Belfour said.
"We will regroup and just look at this as one game. It was a wakeup call for
all of us."
And a major dose of reality. |
