European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 4, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday april 42007 stars and stripes pages nil scoreboard Eastern conference a Suffalo Denew Jersey Atlanta Ottawa Pittsburgh by rangers Tampa Bay Montreal w lot Pis of 6a 5021 7107295235 47 24 8 102 209 195 41 27 11 93 237 239 4724 8102279214 45 23 11 101 271 239 4129 9 91236210 4332 4 90246249 4132 6 88237247 Toronto Carolina by islanders Florida Boston Washington Philadelphia 3830 3932 3630 3430 3538 2639 2146 87 247 257 86 233 242 84233232 83236249 75 214 277 66231282 53 204290 Western conference Lott sgt a a Detroit a Anaheim a Vancouver a Nashville san 19 12 108 242 194 47 20 12 105 251 200 47 24 7 101 212 190 49 23 7 105 262 206 4926 4102248190 25 6 102 220 132 Minnesota 26 8 98224190 43 25 10 96 247 209 Colorado St 30 7 89 257240 3333 i3 79207243 40 7 71 196 241 41 7 69 192 240 40 9 67 191 244 los 66220274 Phoenix 5 63206273 time loss or shootout loss division Leader clinched playoff spot mondays game Louis 4 Dallas 2 tuesdays games Buffalo at Pittsburgh Florida at Washington Boston at Montreal Columbus at Detroit Philadelphia at Toronto Ottawa at new Jersey by rangers at by islanders Carolina at Tampa Bay Edmonton at Minnesota Chicago at Nashville Colorado at Calgary St Louis at Phoenix los Angeles at Vancouver wednesdays games Washington at Atlanta san Jose at Anaheim thursdays games Boston at Buffalo Dallas at Columbus new Jersey at Philadelphia Montreal at by rangers Pittsburgh at Ottawa Toronto at by islanders St Louis at Nashville Edmonton at Minnesota Detroit at Chicago los Angeles at Phoenix Colorado at Vancouver Calgary at san Jose monday blues 4 stars 2 St Louis 1214 Dallas 0202 first period1 St Louis Stempniak 26 Mayers second period2 Dallas Ribeiro 18 mor St Louis Metropolit 14 King St Louis weight 15 Back Man 5 Dallas Morrow 14 Ribeiro third period6 St Louis Stempniak 27 Mayers 1936 shots on goals Louis 69924 Dallas 1011930 Power play Louis 0 of 2 Dallas 1 of 1 goalless Louis Sanford 8125 30 shots28 Dallas Turco 35205 23 shots20 a18532 scoring leaders through apri 2 Crosby pit Thornton so Lecavalier to St Louis to Heatley Ott Hussa at Briere but a Grayr Savard bos Velanne Ana Sakic col of Wechkin was Ginja Cai Jokinen Fla Malkin pit Matsyuk det mfr Edsson Ott Sedin Van Whitney car Nymander nor up 76 79 79 79 79 79 77 79 79 79 78 79 67 79 75 76 64 74 77 78 76 g a pts 36 81 117 21 88109 51 55106 43 58101 48 52 100 4255 97 32 61 93 29 64 93 22 71 93 45 46 91 34 57 91 43 46 89 37 52 89 37 49 86 52 85 57 84 31 52 83 27 55 82 36 45 81 31 50 81 25 56 81 33 27 Calendar april 8 last Day of regular season april i Stanley cup playoffs begin april 27may 13 i if world Champion ship Moscow May 29june 2 nil Combine Toronto june 11 last possible Day for Stanley cup finals june 15 deadline for first club elected salary arbitration june 23 nil draft Columbus Ohio july 1 free Agency signing period be gins july 5 deadline for player elected salary arbitration jury 6 deadline for second club elected salary arbitration july 10 deadline for eligible players to elect group 5 free Agency july 20aug 4 salary arbitration hearts held aug 6 deadline for salary arbitration decisions blues put crimp in stars plans the associated press Dallas the Dallas stars plans for an eighth Pacific Divi Sion title in the past 10 seasons took a hit Courtesy of the St Louis blues Glen Metropolit and Doug weight scored in a 17second Span in the second period to help the blues Stop the stars fou game winning Streak with a 42 Victory on monday night Lee Stempniak scored two goals including an empty Netter with 24 seconds left and Curtis Sanford stopped 28 shots for the blues who won three of the four meetings this season Mike Ribeiro and Brenden mor Row scored for the stars who re main at 102 Points four behind the Pacific division leading Ana Heim ducks Dallas had gone 1011 Over its previous 12 games to put the pres sure on Anaheim but the stars have Only three games left to Over take the ducks were still in the race heading into Bur final three games and our focus is to be playing As Well As we can heading into the playoffs stars coach Dave Tippett said if we do that the Points will take care of themselves the stars whole clinched a playoff spot could have captured the division title if they had won their final four games by finish ing with four straight victories the stars would have been no worse than tied with the ducks and would have had More Victo Ries the first tiebreaker now dal Las needs help pm St Louis goalie Curtis Sanford 1 stops the puck with his Chest during the first period of mondays game against Dallas is Louis won 42 we didst want this team to keep us from getting Home ice and winning the division mor Row said if s definitely disappointing the stars were on a Roll with consecutive Road wins Over the weekend against Western Confer ence playoff teams Detroit and Nashville but Dallas failed to maintain that momentum we knew this would be a Tough game coming off the emotional High against Nashville and Detroit Morrow said but great teams find a Way to win this one it was a missed Opportunity for sure with the game tied at 1 metro Polit put the blues in front with his 14th goal from the right Circle at after a turnover by stars defens Eman Stephane Robidas weight s deflection for his 15th of the season at extended St Louis Lead to 31 St Louis is 564 in its past 15 games but the blues improved to 26169 since Andy Murray took Over As coach St Louis is 1294 in its past 25 games against teams headed to the playoffs weve got one of the Best records in the league Over the last 50 games Murray said weve beaten some of the top teams in the league were just trying to Fin ish the season Strong Stempniak skated unimpeded from the right boards and into the Circle where he beat Dallas goaltender marry Turco with a wrist shot for Bis 26th goal at of the first period to make it 10 Ribeiro tied it at 1 with Bis 18th of the season taking a Cross ice pass from Morrow and lifting a shot Over Sanford who was sprawled on the ice at of the second period after the blues scored twice in the second Morrow made it 32 on a Power play with his 14th goal of the season at of the Sec Ond period banking a Shar Pangle shot off Sanford pads but the stars  draw even despite a 3024 shots advantage we needed a better Ribeiro said if we take the Lead ifs a different game Treyve been beating us All year we just need to learn from it Donovan dancing but bet on him staying Atlanta Joakim Noah was dancing on the stage busting a few moves after he and his teammates won a second straight National title hard to blame him because it was surely his last dance at Florida before moving on to the Aba Billy Donovan want about to show his moves but that didst Stop him from doing a bit of dancing of his own he practice it ail week deflecting questions about his future while preparing the gators to defend their National title now the nets were Down the Celebration was Over and in Quiring people wanted to know it want exactly dancing with the stars material but Donovan showed he could do the sidestep with the Best of them so coach How about those rumours youre going to leave the place you just made history to Chase a few extra dollars at Kentucky is it True that the minute Noah Corey Brewer and Al Hor Ford walk out the door youre gone too i just got off the court in going to enjoy this moment right now Donovan said i think All that stuff will be addressed but you know now is not the time to address it ifs a about these kids our program what just happened it certainly should be these gators and their coach had every right to party All night after dismantling Greg Oden and Ohio state and doing what Many thought was impossible in today world of on handout freshmen and limited scholarships to become the first team in 15 years to win Bac Toback National titles and party they would oblivious of the fact that Gator fans might Wake up with a bit of an anxious hangover because Donovan wont give them some peace of mind to go along Tim Mahiberg with a second straight title what they need to under stand is that not All the games Are played on the court and sometimes the score is kept using dollars millions of them in Donovan Case Hes basketballs hottest coach this onetime Pudgy Point guard who became Billy the kid when he led Providence to a final four and though Hes quite Well paid at Florida with two years at million per still on his contract there Are certain Perks that come with winning National championships one of them according to the secret code of the coaching fraternity is mat you Are Al Lowed to play Coy while fans squirm if it pays off for you in the end with either a better Job or a hugely renegotiated contract the game is played out every year about this time and the Only things that change Are the numbers in Donovan Case they will be almost obscene but few at Florida Are Likely to complain other than a disgruntled sociology professor or two Donovan will get what is due him and the guess Here is that Florida fans have nothing to worry about this is a coach after All who Al most by himself brought basketball out of the Long Shadow of the University football pro Gram he created something for gators fans to Fol Low this time of year other than Spring foot Ball and they came by the thousands to the Georgia dome to see their team win again though Kentucky seems almost desperate to land Donovan and he will no doubt enter Tain an offer he has deep roots in Gainesville after 11 years and deep loyalty to Foley it was the athletic director who kept Faith in him when the team got booted in the first and Sec Ond rounds of the Mcaa tournament for five straight years beginning in 2001 Jeremy Foley was in Bis Corner patting him on the Back and telling him he could get it done Donovan father Bill said theres loyalty there Jeremy was there during the Low Points University of Florida president Bernie a Chen signalled his willingness to open the Check Book last week saying the gators we rent going to lose Donovan to anybody and its Tough to see what More Kentucky could offer him other than a bag of Cash some Rich tradition and maybe a race horse or two Donovan will have to rebuild because this time Noah Brewer and Hor Ford wont give him a second gift and come Back for another season but Ohio state showed How far you can go with a group of freshmen and if Florida want already on the radar of every High school player who can fill a net it surely is now Donovan talked in the Early morning hours tuesday about How he May not have enjoyed the first championship enough mostly be cause he was Busy trying to figure out ways to prepare his five returning starters for the Rig ors of having to try and repeat this time he vowed he would let it sink in and savor the moment Donovan can do better than that he can allow Florida fans to savor the moment even More All he needs to do is Stop dancing around Tim Mahiberg is a National sports columnist for the associated press write to him