| Sherrington: One-sided rivalry weighs on Oilers 04/13/2001
The official line out of the Oilers' locker room is that they're no longer afraid of the Stars and even suspect that they're human. The Oilers are older and wiser now, the Stars aren't as good, yada, yada, yada.
Good news for the Oilers: They now have almost beaten the Stars 10 times in their last 13 playoff games!
Bad news: They're not buying it back home.
By the time the Oilers get back to Edmonton late Saturday night, their fans will be behind them. They'll pack the house Sunday, lift the roof and a glass or two and give it everything they've got, as the Oilers have.
But backing the home team is one thing. Betting on it is another. On its Web site, the Edmonton Journal asked readers, "How will the Oilers do against Dallas in the playoffs?"
The two options were "Crush them" and "Crushed."
Sixty-six percent went with the latter.
This episode reminds of an old Texas high school football story. The coach's wife, left at home, is greatly saddened to learn that the team has lost its big game. But grief turns to shock when she hears the football caravan hit town like a carnival rather than a funeral.
Horrified, she blubbers to her husband that she can't believe everyone could be so happy that they lost.
Along about this point, the coach explains the nature of "point spreads," and the great economic boom that has just settled over their humble little burg.
As point spreads go, there isn't much separating the two teams in the annual Edmonton-Dallas playoff series. Not unless you're counting victories, of course.
How do you explain Dallas' ability to win 10 of its last 13 playoff games against Edmonton, each by a single goal?
Even Stars coach Ken Hitchcock asked himself that question as he drove home Wednesday night with a 2-1 overtime victory.
"You can't keep playing with this fine line," he said. "Sooner or later, something has to give."
Bet on Edmonton's will giving in, maybe starting Saturday. Nothing against the Oilers, who certainly aren't quitters.
But how long do you go on playing a team so well, so close, and keep losing?
In a tight game, as Wednesday's was, you wait and wait and wait for the other team to make a mistake. Just one. A wee little slip, and that's enough.
And the Stars made a whopper. Sergei Zubov, as brilliant a passer as there is in hockey, nonetheless will occasionally do something with a puck that defies logic, as he did in the third period Wednesday when he tried to sneak a pass across the ice to Brett Hull.
Or at least that was the idea. But the Oilers' Mike Grier stepped in, stole the puck and looked up to see nothing between him and a game-winning goal but lonesome Ed Belfour.
Feel like hitting the ice, Hitch?
"Yeah, but it wasn't to stop Grier," he said, grinning. "It was to choke the other guy."
Off Grier galloped, Zubov in desperate pursuit. This surely was the end of Dallas' run. No one in sports is more helpless than a naked goalie, unless it is anyone atop the leaderboard on a Sunday afternoon, and Tiger in the hunt.
Andy Moog knows the feeling. So does Grant Ledyard, who slipped in the '97 playoffs against the Oilers, leaving Moog unchaperoned as Todd Marchant blew in for the series-winning goal.
But that was four years ago, before a one-sided rivalry got started. As Grier closed in on the breakaway Wednesday, Belfour dropped. Grier went top shelf, and the puck sailed nearly a foot over the bar.
After that, the Oilers had to wonder privately what it takes to beat Dallas. Is it just in the Stars? Or is it in the hair?
Brenden Morrow dyed his wavy locks a lovely shade of yellow, just for the playoffs.
For luck?
"It's not for looks," Morrow said, "I'll tell you that."
Looks like the Stars need no luck against Edmonton. Not with the terrible weight of all these slim losses hanging heavily from the Oilers' necks.
Kevin Sherrington can be reached at 214-977-8447 or .
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