Sunday, May 11, 2008

Detroit Red Wings 2, Dallas Stars 1

By Mark Stepneski of Andrew's Stars Page

The Dallas Stars had their chances. They could only convert one and that wasn't enough against the Detroit Red Wings, who beat the Stars 2-1 Saturday night at Joe Louis Arena to take a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference Finals.

The Stars missed on several opportunities early in the game, missed on a series of power play chances in the second period and failed to generate much in the third period, which ended in ugly fashion.

Steve Ott took a roughing penalty with five seconds remaining for going after Wings center Kris Draper and received a misconduct. Mike Ribeiro took a match penalty for slashing Wings goalie Chris Osgood at the end of the game after Osgood caught Ribeiro with the butt-end of his stick.

"Ribeiro is actually letting up on the guy and Osgood just sticks his stick out and butt-ends him,'' Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "Ribeiro is not going to turn around and chop the goalie like that without having something happening. I looked at it and said, "What's he doing?' until I went in and looked at the tape.''

Osgood said he was just trying to protect Detroit captain Nicklas Lidstrom, who Osgood believed had Ribeiro and Stephane Robidas bearing down on him behind the net as time was running out.

"Even if I did butt-end him, it was an accident,'' Osgood said. "I was more or less trying to protect our best player, making sure they didn't get a clean run at him with two seconds left. I don't think that justifies a two-hander over the top of the net."

Said Draper: "That's right out of Slap Shot. He just literally... intent to injure on our best player. I couldn't believe it when he did it."

With a match penalty being handed out to Ribeiro, the league will review the incident for possible supplemental discipline. Osgood's butt-end to the face of Ribeiro could get reviewed as well.

"A butt-end to somebody's face at any time is pretty gutless," Stars goalie Marty Turco said. "Just sticking your knob out there is a dangerous play. I've caught guys, my own teammates, around the net and I've seen guys get major injuries to the face. It's something our game doesn't need."

Robidas' power play goal was the lone score for the Stars, who ended up 1-5 on the power play in the game. Marty Turco came up with several big saves to keep the Stars close and ended up with 32 saves on the night.

Saturday's loss leaves the Stars needing to win four of five games to win the series against the Red Wings. Game 3 is Monday night in Dallas.

"We haven't done it before, but we're going to see what we're made of," said Stars captain Brenden Morrow. "Being down two game is tough against anyone, especially the Wings, so we've got a big road ahead of us."

Said Turco: "It certainly is disappointing to be down 0-2, but we like our chances going home. It's going to be a totally different atmosphere and the guys in here realize what we need to do."

Darren Helm scored at even strength and Henrik Zetterberg tallied on the power play for the Red Wings, who have now won eight straight games in the playoffs. Osgood stopped 17 of 18 shots for the Red Wings.

"I thought with the exception of the second period, where we took four minor [penalties], I thought we were in good control," said Detroit Mike Babcock. "It was going our way."

The Stars had some good chances early in the first period, but couldn't cash in on any of them. Loui Eriksson fired a backhand shot wide, Toby Petersen fanned on an open shot from the slot and Steve Ott shot wide on a four-on-one break.

Just moments after Ott missed, Brad Winchester lost the puck in the neutral zone and Detroit forward Jiri Hudler sent a pass to Helm, who skated into the left circle and beat Turco with a wrist shot at 5:56.

"Hudler made a great play and I was just able to put in," said Helm, who scored his first playoff goal. "It's an exciting moment for me and I am just glad to contribute on the scoreboard for the team tonight."

The Stars got their first power play of the game at the 10:27 mark when Detroit captain Nicklas Lidstrom put the puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty. It took the Stars just 14 seconds to score as Mike Ribeiro sent a cross-ice pass to Robidas, who beat Osgood with a one-timer from the right circle.

Detroit got its first power play chance about four minutes later when Sergei Zubov went to the box for hooking, and the Wings took advantage when Henrik Zetterberg scored off a one-timer from just beyond the top of the left circle at the 15:13 mark of the first period.

The second period was mostly specials teams, but neither team scored. The Stars had three straight chances, Detroit had two chances and then the Stars had another late in the period.

Osgood came up with perhaps his best save of the game in the third, stopping a spinning backhand attempt by Mike Modano with his pad.

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