Daily News from New York, New York • 91

THE NHL VS. ISLES NE GAM on ear HOWARD SIMMONS DAILY NEWS HELD UP: Alexei Kovalev who would score game's second goal, battles Isles' Kenny Jonsson. a winner at Garden COMING UP SHORT Isles can't 'sweep' Rangers Vacchiano, Page 92 an hour before the game the league would deal harshly with any further shenanigans. Which left just a hockey game to be contested. And Cloutier was the reason the Rangers won it.

Playing on a second consecutive night for the first time in his budding NHL career, the 21-year-old got the Rangers into the third period with hope of actually recording their first shutout of the season. He did so by stopping Palffy on four excellent scoring chances through the first 40 minutes while Adam Graves, Alexei Kovalev and Ulf Samuelsson were building a 3-0 lead. Brodeur is shaky, Devs not By SHERRY ROSS Daily News Sports Writer Martin Brodeur is: a) sick; b) tired, or c) sick and tired of playing behind an indifferent Devils defense. The answer won't be learned until Saturday, since Brodeur, who was pulled after allowing three goals in the first period of the Devils' eventual 5-4 overtime win over the Buffalo Sabres last night at the Meadowlands, will not be in Chicago tonight to back up Mike Dunham. He was not available after the game to talk to the media.

He was not even on the bench to watch Dunham's winning effort in relief or Scott Stevens' goal with 21.7 seconds remaining in OT. told him to sit on the couch (in the dressing room) so he'll be more comfortable," coach Jacques Lemaire said. "I don't worry about Marty. I know that we have to be careful. He's been in the net for most of the games all year.

I know he's a little tired mentally. Physically, he feels fine." Several of his teammates let slip that Brodeur is not fine. Brodeur has sounded hoarse and has been battling a cold since the weekend. Brodeur, 1-4-1 in his last six decisions, and Sabres goalie Dominik Hasek were supposed to provide the head-tohead showdown for the Vezina Trophy, but both goalies ended up watching the game on TV. Hasek, sidelined with an ear infection, never even made it from the team's hotel room to the game.

It was the second straight shaky outing for Brodeur, who was nearly yanked in Sunday's game against Florida but was allowed to stay in to gut out a 5-5 tie. Dunham, already scheduled to start tonight's game, turned into a hero. Coming in with the game tied 3-3, he made a huge save on Brian Holzinger's breakaway at 12:03 of the second period, earning a standing ovation and hearing his Stars clinch DALLAS Ed Belfour survived an early Detroit powerplay blitz and finished with 44 saves as the Dallas Stars clinched best record and top playoff seed in the Western Conference with a 3-1 victory over the Red Wings last night. Pat Verbeek scored twice, including the go-ahead goal in the first period, and Greg Ad- GREAT SCOTT DEVILS 5 SABRES 4 first-ever Meadowlands chant of "Dun-ham!" "The last time I played here they were booing me, so it felt good," Dunham said. His last Meadowlands appearance came when he was waxed in a 6-2 loss to the Blackhawks on Dec.

30 and pulled after two periods. With Brodeur slated to play the regular-season finale against the Islanders Saturday, Dunham will be getting his last start of the season. With expansion coming up and Dunham not expected to be protected, it could also be Dunham's last start as a Devil. "It's a possibility," Dunham said. "There are things that could happen over the summer, so it could be the last game I start for New Jersey, but you can't dwell on that too much because it's a business, and everybody gets traded." Despite his strong effort, Dunham was on the hook for the loss after allowing Darryl Shannon's screen shot at 5:49 of the third period, two seconds after a Buffalo power play expired.

Dave Andreychuk, who nearly decapitated Sabres goalie Steve Shields with a shot earlier in the third period, tied the game at 4-4 with a more subtle forehand-to-backhand move with 5:36 remaining in regulation. Brad Bombardir scored his first career NHL goal, Randy McKay scored his 24th after missing eight games with a knee injury, and Denis Pederson netted his 14th in a 3-3 first period. Doug Gilmour also returned to the lineup after missing 18 games with knee surgery. The Devils remained a point behind the Dallas Stars in the Presidents' Trophy race. Dallas beat Detroit last night, 3-1.

Palffy finally broke through in the third, scoring his 42d and 43d goals of the season to pull the Isles within 3-2 with 7:43 left. But Cloutier shut it down from there, winding up with 29 saves and some positive feeling to take into the AHL playoffs which he will join for Hartford's third game of the first round. "We wanted to beat them on the scoreboard," Cloutier said afterward. "I think it was really important that we got the victory, not only because it was the Islanders but because I don't get too many opportunities." Actually, it was hard to find too much excitement in the Rangers' dressing room about finally winning a game against a local rival in their 11th and last try they wound up 1-3-1 vs. the Isles and 0-4-2 against the Devils.

"They get fired up to beat us," Wayne Gretzky said of the Islanders. "Their whole organization obviously gets fired up to beat our organization. I don't know if we have the same feeling around here." Mostly, what the Rangers have been feeling for some time now is remorse over a season gone wrong. Last night, they finally gave their faithful followers something to cheer about even if it came at the potentially steep price of worsening their draft position. "We've had a bad year for a lot of reasons and a lot of things that went on," Gretzky said.

"But as I said before, it's been nice to see the crowds we've gotten lately and the good support. And it was nice to send the fans home with a win and a positive best in ams notched Dallas' first goal to help the Stars improve to 107 points, three better than Detroit, which has one game remaining. Dallas also maintained its one-point lead over the Devils in the Presidents' Trophy race for the league's best record and home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs. -AP.