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Friday, May 29, 1998

Return of the native: Modano's back in Detroit

By HARRY ATKINS / AP Sports Writer

DETROIT (AP) -- The surroundings are familiar, and maybe that's a good thing for Mike Modano.

The Dallas forward has been struggling in the Western Conference finals, and the Stars hope he finds a comfort level when the series with the Detroit Red Wings resumes with Game 3 Friday night.

Modano calls Dallas home, but he grew up in suburban Detroit.

"The novelty of playing Detroit has kind of worn off, but this makes it special again in a way," he said. "It's a great opportunity to make a statement against the defending champions."

Modano has gone eight games without scoring. He last scored in a 3-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks on April 30 in Game 5 of a first-round series.

But Dallas defenseman Derian Hatcher, who also grew up in the Detroit suburbs, defends Modano's lack of production. Detroit's defense, like the others, shadows Modano's every move.

"Every time he touched the puck he had sticks on him," Hatcher said. "He was dragging a couple of guys around on his back out there."

The smothering defense left Modano without much skating room in a playoff that is tied at one victory apiece.

"They just shut it down in the neutral zone," Modano said. "They're lined up at the red line. They don't give us the room that we like to have. You have to have short passes."

But he's not alone in his misery.

Detroit's Steve Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov and Brendan Shanahan have just one point among them -- a Fedorov assist -- through the first two games and only 14 shots on goal in this series.

"It wouldn't be surprising if just two goals won every game for you in this series," Fedorov said. "Both teams are playing very tough defense and don't like to give you room to operate."

Fedorov, who earned a $12 million bonus when the Red Wings advanced to the third round, had eight goals and six assists in his first 10 playoff games. In his last four games, he has one assist.

"When you get to this point of the playoffs, the defenses tighten up more and you're not going to see too many great scoring chances," Detroit defenseman Bob Rouse said. "And in a series that's probably going to be as low scoring as this, every shot on net becomes very important."

Tight defense has been a factor, to be sure. But neither team has been able to score consistently on power plays.

The Red Wings, bidding to become the first team since 1992 to repeat as champions, are 1-for-12 on power plays in this series. Dallas, which won the Presidents' Trophy for the best regular-season record, is 0-for-10. For the playoffs, Detroit is just 14-for-92 with the man advantage; the Stars are 9-for-80.

"Everyone should get used to these kinds of games," Rouse said. "You're probably going to see a lot of 2-1 games in the third period. We all knew that this had the makings of a very low-scoring series and that puts more emphasis on everything."

The Red Wings were 2-1-2 against Dallas this season, winning both games in Detroit. But the Red Wings are just 3-3 at home during the playoffs, the worst home record of the four teams remaining.

The Stars have not allowed more than two goals in a playoff game in 10 straight games, an NHL record. They broke the record set by the 1928 Montreal Maroons. The Stars have gone 7-3 in their streak; the Maroons went 5-3-1 (in 1928, the NHL played a total-goals series in the first two rounds).

"Playoffs are a different season," Modano said. "It's a different level."