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Posted on Fri, May. 02, 2008

Morrow leads the way like a good Conn man

By JENNIFER FLOYD ENGEL

Star-Telegram Staff Writer

Dallas Stars captain Brenden Morrow has just about answered a long-debated local jockosphere question.

Definitely, yes.

Yes, a lone player can singlehandedly transform his team into a contender by sheer force of his will. I believe this only because I have seen Morrow impose himself on this Stars team and, as a result, onto these playoffs since Game 1 in Anaheim.

Because, when Stars types talk about how nobody expected them to be in this position, a victory from a Western Conference Finals berth, my first thought is: "Yep, and a few of them were in your locker room."

Don't get me wrong, every Star was hoping he could beat the defending champion Ducks, but mini-Mo touched down in Anaheim and started hitting and scoring and skating as if on a mission to convince everybody of what he already believed.

"Any doubters watched him and were not doubters for long," Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "He is one of the guys who got the snowball rolling."

Until Wednesday, when that snowball stopped rather suddenly.

And while that Game 4 loss might turn into a small blip in a long playoff march, this is a Stars team that operates better when adhering to the Crash Davis motto: "Don't think. It can only hurt the ballclub."

Belief is a fickle friend; best not to lose contact. Especially now.

And this is why Morrow again has to be the guy in Game 5 this evening in San Jose. He has to restart that snowball, playing so hard and so determined that his Stars teammates follow along and San Jose bends to his will.

"There are guys you hope show up, but with him, you know," Stars goalie Marty Turco said. "What you are seeing is just him being him this time of year."

This has almost nothing to do with talent.

Because mini-Mo is the first guy to admit more physically gifted Stars exist; better pure scorers certainly do. He is not even the best player on his line. Mike Ribeiro has that distinction with his pretty passes and gorgeous goals.

Almost all of them have featured Morrow hunkered down in front of whoever happens to be tending goal, helping make all of that pretty possible.

Look at Dallas' only goal in Game 4.

Mini-Mo forced Devin Setoguchi's turnover, the puck ended up on Jere Lehtinen's stick, and Morrow had enough presence of mind to whiz past Sharks goalie Evgeni Nabokov, creating a tiny little screen.

In fact, it seems like after every Stars goal, we are in the press box asking: "Did that go off Brenden?" He is always in front of the net, always around it, always taking the punishment that comes standard with playing a gritty game.

"Ribs, I guess," Morrow said when asked what hurts most after a game." Unless, I get hit in the foot."

It is a hard way to play. It is the only way to win.

Tip calls players such as mini-Mo compete guys, heart-and-soul players such as Mark Messier and Ryan Smyth in their prime who exemplified refusing to go down and dragging teammates along with them. And I am convinced this Stars team had to adopt this identity, Morrow's identity, as opposed to pretty skill, to be 60 minutes away from waving buh-bye to San Jose.

And, while mini-Mo understands his area of expertise is being a human backboard to bounce shots off and in, being physical and being on almost nonstop, he has added just enough learned skill to be dominating these playoffs.

Remember his overtime winner in Game 1?

His pretty one-timer that he smoked past Nabokov was the result of a suggestion and work and more work and even more work. You see, before Brett Hull became a GM, he had talked to Morrow about how to help his team even more.

Get a one-timer, he said.

And learn to shoot and score outside of the crease.

This is why, hours before the Stars got on the plane to San Jose the first time, a week or so ago, when I walked into the Stars' practice facility, I found mini-Mo practicing one-timers by himself.

One, then another until he had 40.

"You stand in the crease long enough, pretty soon they look for you there," Hull said. "And if you are smart, you will be in the circle shooting."

And sure enough, this is what happened in Game 1.

Probably 1,000 such examples exist from this playoffs, hits and goals, blocked shots and penalties killed, feisty, hard, do whatever it takes play from him game after game after game. He has been the Stars' best player. Period.

And he has been all season.

Shhh! Don't tell mini-Mo I said so because he deplores any kind of rah-rah about himself, but he has probably injected himself into early Conn Smythe talk.

As Turco noted: "He is on a mission, and you can see what that mission is."

His mission is to win a Stanley Cup. And here lies the answer to the question of whether one player can transform a team into something it might otherwise not have been without him.

Definitely, yes.

And as Morrow has proved, that player does not have to look like what we expect a leader to look like.

He does not have to unleash fiery speeches.

Or be the most skilled player.

He simply has to be his best every single game and thereby convince his teammates, if nothing else, to believe in him. And follow.

Three keys

Things the Stars need to do tonight to close out the series:

Show discipline: The Stars have had penalty trouble in the past two games and need to make San Jose score goals at even strength.

Press the game: Play like they're the ones trailing. The team to score first has lost all four games.

Take the Tank: The Stars have won eight of their past nine games at HP Pavilion, aka the Shark Tank.

Stars at Sharks Stars lead series 3-1 Game 5: 9 tonight, Versus