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Rugged Stevens still haunted by scary playoff nightmare

Pittsburgh Penguins’ left winger Kevin Stevens paused to consider the question before him, then dismissed his 1993-94 regular season as “nothing to write home about.” And by the standards he had established over the previous few years, it was hard to argue the point. Sure, Stevens scored 41 goals, but for a guy who had 54 and 55 in the previous two seasons, that was a lackluster total. “It was not a terrible year,” Stevens said. “But not by any means the year I wanted to have.” Things didn’t get much better during the Penguins’ first-round playoff series, as he failed to get a point in the first four games against the Washington Capitals. Stevens’ run of bad luck began long before the playoffs. In fact, it dated to Pittsburgh’s final playoff appearance in 1993,…

Mike makes right

They say everything is bigger in Texas. Mike Modano is living proof. The Dallas Stars’ center is having the finest of his five NHL seasons and his confidence has grown immensely in the Lone Star State. It seemed as though his head had, too. After boldly-some say foolishly-predicting a sweep when the Stars took a 2-0 senes lead against the St. Louis Blues in the Western Conference quarterfinal, Modano demonstrated the ability to play as good a game as he talks. He scored a goal and assisted on another as the Stars beat St. Louis 5-4 in Game 3, then potted both goals in a 2-1 win to give his team the sweep. Even Stars’ coach and general manager Bob Gainey gulped in disbelief when Modano went public with his fearless prediction. “His inexperience showed,” Gainey said. Modano…

AMERICAN LEAGUE