DETROIT -- Dallas plays on, and Marty Turco's Joe Louis Arena jinx is gone.
Trevor Daley and Joel Lundqvist scored as the Stars again avoided elimination with a 2-1 victory over Detroit in the NHL's Western Conference final this afternoon, and Turco made 38 saves to earn his first NHL win in 12 career NHL starts in Detroit.
Stars goalie Marty Turco stops a shot from Wings Henrik Zetterberg (40) in front of defenceman Sergei Zubov in the third period.
Jiri Hudler was the only goal scorer for the Red Wings, who now must return to Texas to play Monday night with their series lead shaved to 3-2.
The Stars, in losing the opening three games, looked spent after their energy-sapping, four-overtime series against San Jose. They've come alive.
The Red Wings are the ones looking droopy now. Maybe they're missing injured right-winger Johan Franzen more than they're letting on. Pavel Datsyuk showed none of the spark he had in the first three games and Henrik Zetterberg was merely ordinary Saturday, and it'll take more than ordinary efforts to sideline the determined Stars.
Dallas had most of the scoring chances in the opening 10 minutes and Detroit goaltender Chris Osgood made big saves on Mike Modano and Niklas Hagman shots.
The Wings were hitting. Dallas Drake crushed Toby Petersen twice on the same shift with clean body checks, but the Stars continued to attack and Daley opened the scoring at 9:21. The Toronto-born defenceman beat Osgood with a low shot from 20 feet after taking a nifty drop pass from Brad Richards, putting Dallas up 8-4 on the shots counter.
The Stars' penalty killers had been outstanding and, going back to Game 2, they killed off a 14th straight Detroit power play with Modano in the penalty box. They weren't as fortunate on the 15th. With Daley off for interference, Hudler tied it at 15:30. The 5-foot-10 Czech was at the side of the crease to slip in his own rebound with Turco diving too late to cover the open side of the net.
Detroit defenceman Niklas Kronwall dropped Antti Miettinen with a bone-jarring body check in the neutral zone late in the period. The Wings were starting to fly and wound up with a 14-10 shots edge in the period.
Detroit outshot Dallas 13-6 in the second period but the Stars got an equal share of the good scoring chances. Lundqvist broke the tie at 6:04 after taking a long pass from Turco to get a 2-on-1 break caused by Detroit defenceman Chris Chelios heading to his bench for a change while the play was in progress. Lundqvist used a teammate as a decoy and, skating down the wing to the left of Osgood, planted the puck in the far top corner of the net with a wrist shot.
For only the third time in 15 playoff games this spring, the Wings entered the third period trailing. They couldn't rally to win the previous two nor would they pull a win out of this one.
Dallas captain Brenden Morrow hit the crossbar with a shot that would have put it away for the Stars with Tomas Holmstrom off for roughing with six minutes left.
Detroit had a 12-5 shots edge in the third, but Turco and the Dallas defence, anchored by six-foot-one Russian Sergei Zubov, held off the Wings.
An icing call necessitated a faceoff in the Dallas end with 58 seconds left, and a sixth skater replaced Osgood. The Wings would get one last chance. It didn't last long. After called for icing themselves, the Wings sent Osgood back onto the ice when a faceoff was required in the Detroit end.
Notes: Detroit was 1-3 and Dallas 0-4 on power plays . . . Zetterberg's point streak ended at nine games . . . Franzen (concussion) was out of the Red Wings' lineup a fourth straight game, while RW Jere Lehtinen (leg, May 10), C Stu Barnes (concussion, April 29) and D Philippe Boucher (hip, April 15) remained unavailable to the Stars . . . The loss was Detroit's first in eight home post-season games this spring, and its first including regular season since a 4-3 overtime loss to St. Louis on March 28.
The Canadian Press
PREVIOUS
