Conference Semifinal Preview Capsules

3. DALLAS vs. 4. ST. LOUIS

Best of seven (*if necessary; all times Pacific):

Friday: at Dallas, 4 p.m.

Sunday: at Dallas; 4:30 p.m.

Tuesday: at St. Louis, 4 p.m.

May 3: at St. Louis, 4:30 p.m.

May 5: at Dallas, 10 a.m.*

May 7: at St. Louis, 5 p.m.*

May 9: at Dallas, 4 p.m.*

THE BREAKDOWN

* Team records: Stars--48-24-8-2, 106 points; Blues--43-22-12-5, 103 points.

* Season series: Blues, 1-0-2.

* Coaches: Dallas--Ken Hitchcock; St. Louis--Joel Quenneville.

* How they got here: Dallas defeated No. 6 Edmonton, 4-2. St. Louis defeated No. 5 San Jose, 4-2.

* Scouting report: The Stars are a well-oiled machine, having weathered four overtime games against Edmonton. The Blues cleared a major hurdle in beating San Jose, a team that embarrassed them in last season’s playoffs. Dallas has received superb goaltending from Ed Belfour, who had a 1.92 goals-against average against the Oilers. The Stars got stellar play from centers Mike Modano and Joe Nieuwendyk. Modano took a puck in the nose in Game 5, but 25 stitches later he was on the ice wearing a visor. Nieuwendyk scored the deciding goal in Game 6 after sitting out three games because of a sprained knee. For St. Louis, Roman Turek had a 1.80 goals-against average along with a .932 save percentage. The Blues’ top line of Pierre Turgeon, Dallas Drake and Scott Young accounted for 21 points against San Jose.

* Team leaders: Dallas--Mike Modano (3 goals); Brett Hull, Sergei Zubov (4 assists); Modano, Hull, Zubov (5 points). St. Louis--Dallas Drake (4 goals); Pierre Turgeon (7 assists, 9 points).

* Injury report: Dallas--None; St. Louis--D Jeff Finley (concussion, day to day).

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THE MATCHUPS DAL STL Avg. goals 2.7 2.7 Avg. goals allowed 2.2 1.8 Power-play pct. 15.3 19.2 Penalty killing 83.8 100.0 Save pct. .914 .932 Faceoff pct. 48.3 53.1 Shooting pct. 8.5 8.7

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