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DETROIT -- This could get really ugly.
Then again, maybe it already is for the Dallas Stars, who lost 4-1 to the Detroit Red Wings in the first game of the Western Conference finals on a night they were supposed to be the team riding a wave of momentum. Instead, they were run out of the building by the Red Wings, whose comfortable margin of victory didn't do justice to how much higher a level they were playing on compared to the Stars.
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| In Game 1, big bodies like Tomas Holmstrom's trouble goalie Marty Turco throughout the contest. (Getty Images) |
Dallas managed three of the four shots it would get in the opening period during that flurry, but none of them was particularly threatening except to themselves because it seemed to serve as a wake up call to Detroit. The Red Wings quickly caught their breath, found their legs and began taking the game away.
"In the previous series, they've had unbelievable starts and set the tone in other teams' buildings and you have to respect that," Red Wings forward Kris Draper said. "That's why the one thing we wanted to do was have a great effort in the first period, and we did. That ended up being the difference in the hockey game."
One of the differences anyway. The Stars didn't do themselves any favors by getting into penalty trouble, a problem they generally avoided in their series against Anaheim and San Jose, and it didn't take long to cost them. Defenseman Mattias Norstrom and Mark Fistric were sent off within a minute of each other and less than 10 seconds into the two-man advantage, Brian Rafalski scored on a screened shot from the point to let Detroit draw first blood.
From there, it only got worse for the Stars, who ended up allowing two more power-play goals before the game hit its mid-point. By the time it was over, Dallas was not only on the short end of scoreboard, it was outnumbered in terms of hits, blocked shots clock and, most critically, in the faceoff circle.
"You're looking at our three top centermen who were all well below 50 percent on the draws," Dallas coach Dave Tippett said. "The things that when you're engaged in a game and doing things at a top level, we didn't have enough people at that level tonight.
"That was a game that wasn't even close to the games we played in the playoffs. Whether there's fatigue from the last (four overtime) game, we didn't play close to our capability. We just didn't skate."
Detroit did, and much like in the final game of the previous round against Colorado, it was too much to handle. The Red Wings have now won seven consecutive postseason games and they've done it with the simple formula of moving their legs, were controlling the ice at both ends and getting the kind of traffic they needed in front of the other team's net.
In fact, Dallas goalie Marty Turco, who has never won a game as a pro in Joe Louis Arena, spent much of the night dealing with the behinds of Tomas Holmstrom and Johan Franzen in his face. Not coincidentally, they each ended up scoring goals on the power play, with Franzen helping him tie a team record first set by Gordie Howe in 1949 for goals in five consecutive playoff games.
"Look, it's playoff time, and that's what you have to expect," Turco said. "Those guys get to the front of the net and stay there, and you have to be able to work around."
Turco couldn't, even though he looked very sharp through most of the night facing 31 shots. So did his counterpart Chris Osgood, who didn't have nearly as much work, but came up with big saves on the few occasions they were required. Osgood was at his best late in the second period when the Stars showed a few signs of life and eventually managed to ruin his shutout on Brenden Morrow's goal with 67 seconds left before the intermission.
But it wasn't enough to change the momentum because the Red Wings shut the door in the final frame, keeping the Stars to six shots and giving them something to think about this scary-looking Detroit machine that doesn't seem to understand the meaning of the word complacent.
"No way," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "We're a group that wants to win bad and we're determined because we've been here before and never got the job done. We know it's going to be a huge battle and tonight's just one part of it."
