Thursday, May 15, 2008

Dallas Stars 3, Detroit Red Wings 1

By Mark Stepneski of Andrew's Stars Page

DALLAS — The Dallas Stars finally got a lead against the Detroit Red Wings and Marty Turco made sure it held up. Turco turned in a 33-save performance as the Stars topped the Detroit Red Wings 3-1 to stay alive in the Western Conference Finals.

"He came up with a heck of a game for us tonight," said Stars coach Dave Tippett. "We were looking for a better team effort and that's what we got, right from Marty on out."

Loui Eriksson, Mike Modano and Brenden Morrow scored goals for the Stars, who also got a pair of assists from Sergei Zubov. The Stars, who still trail 3-1 in the series, will play Game 5 in in Detroit on Saturday.

"It's a big game on Saturday," said Modano, whose power play goal early in the third proved to be the game-winner.. "We have a couple of days to regroup and get some rest for a great game Saturday, and hopefully we can continue this."

"We've got a thread of life," said Tippett. "The two days off will really help us. We've got some momentum. We've got to use that to our advantage. We go in there and steal a game and we've got it to 3-2. Now the ball is rolling the right way. We'll see what happens."

"This isn't over. No one's told us to stop playing," said Stars center Brad Richards. "This is a fun time of year and

we're going to enjoy every minute of it and we got another life tonight."

The Red Wings had a nine-game playoff winning streak snapped and goalie Chris Osgood, who stopped 19 of 22 shots, suffered his first loss of the postseason.

"We didn't shoot the puck in the net. We had every opportunity to score and we didn't," said Red Wings coach Mike Babcock. "The goalie was good, they were desperate. We weren't surprised by their effort. It was what we expected. Like I said, we weren't able to finish."

The Red Wings will get another chance to close out the series at Joe Louis Arena, where they are 7-0 in the playoffs this season.

"The good thing is we're still up and still in the driver's seat going back to the Joe," said Detroit forward Darren McCarty.

After Eriksson gave the Stars late in the second, the Red Wings tied the game 49 seconds into the third period. After Toby Petersen turned the puck over in the Detroit zone, Pavel Datsyuk led the rush up ice and set up Henrik Zetterberg, who scored from the left circle to tie the game.

But the Stars got the lead back with a power play goal at the 5:35 mark of the second. Zubov sent a pass from the corner to Modano, whose shot from the slot whistled over Osgood's glove hand.

"I had to get it off quick because [Detroit 's Kris] Draper was closing in quick," said Modano. "I was able to get it above Osgood's glove."

The Stars got an insurance goal late in the third period when Morrow and Steve Ott did some good work on the forecheck and Mike Ribeiro then set up Morrow, who scored from the slot with 5:26 left in the game.

Things got interesting late when Morrow took a delay of game penalty with 2:17 left and the Red Wings pulled Osgood for the extra attacker. Another penalty, this one on Modano with 35 seconds left, gave Detroit a 6-on-3 advantage, but Turco and the Stars held the fort.

The Stars came out with a strong push in the first period, but it was a scoreless game when the two teams headed off the ice for the first intermission. Dallas had some good chances, but Chris Osgood made some sharp saves and Stars defenseman Nicklas Grossman had a shot go off the crossbar. The Stars had three power play chances, but were able to muster only two shots on goal.

The Red Wings were the team who had the chances in the second period, outshot the Stars 14-6 and getting three power opportunities. But they weren't able to take advantage and had a power play goal waved off when it was ruled Red Wings forward Tomas Holmstrom interfered with Turco.

"It's a reputation call, totally," said Babcock. "It's disappointing."

"Some bounces go for you and some go against you," said Tippett. "Tonight we got it to go for us."

The Stars finally got a lead in a game, their first of the series, with just 23 seconds left in the second period. A Stephane Robidas shot from the right wing bounced off Eriksson past Eriksson and past Osgood to make it a 1-0 game heading into the third period.

"It hit my body and then hit the stick," Eriksson said. "I was just standing there."

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