It was the kind of slow, bogged-down pace in the early stages of Game 5 that you knew Dallas wasn’t going to forget to show up to American Airlines Center. No, the Stars had other ideas of hanging around a little while longer thanks to their 3-1 desperation win in Game 5. Put your brooms and dust pans back in the closet, there will be no sweep.
The loss snaps the Wings’ nine-game winning streak in the postseason, and for the Wings, who have been playing at such a high, remarkable level, they just got knocked down a peg. Detroit was given a few bitter playoff pills to swallow, called losing and adversity. The Wings hadn’t lost since April 16th, in Game 3 against Nashville and for the first time in almost a month, didn’t play particularly well.
The effort in Game 4 flat out wasn’t good enough to send the Stars to the golf courses and backyard lawn chairs for the summer. Detroit started slow, thanks in large part to the Stars’ urgency. The Wings got back on their heels and for the second game in a row, found themselves taking a steady journey to the penalty box. In Game 3, the Wings offset Dallas’ good start with the all important first goal that put the Stars in chase mode. A good rule to live by as the opposing team after the first period is to be even or ahead. The Wings mustered just five first period shots, but were lucky to be tied 0-0.
Game 4 was a series of firsts, mostly for Dallas, in this series. It was the first time Dallas led in any of the four games when Loui Eriksson put a stray puck past Chris Osgood with 22.7 seconds left in the second period. Until Eriksson’s goal, the Stars had trailed in the series for almost 220 minutes.
It was also the first time the Stars benefited from a call, and horrible call at that. Go back to Game 1 where Wings forward Tomas Holmstrom had his heels and then some in crease, making it impossible for Turco make a save. Deflection goes in off Holmstrom. Turco pleading for some help from the refs but to no avail. Clearly Holmstrom’s goal shouldn’t have counted, and in Game 4, the officials blew another one, only this time, it was legit.
And it was a tremendous momentum swing in the game. In the second period with Detroit on the power play, Pavel Datsyuk fired a shot into the upper corner in front of a screened Turco, and as usual Holmstrom was doing the screening. The Wings go in front on the power play goal as the red light when on, and the Stars find themselves in a familiar position: chase mode. Only this time, the goal was disallowed by referee Kelly Sutherland, who said that Holmstrom’s “rear” was in the crease, interfering with Turco. Nice one, Kelly, thanks. Little late for a makeup call THREE games later I’d say, wouldn’t you?
Referees are human too, and they’re going to make mistakes, but as Wings coach Mike Babcock said in the postgame conference, that was totally a reputation call, and I’ll add total B/S. To say it was a bad call is one thing, and to say it was a turning point in the game, is another. What could have been a Detroit lead was wiped out. 7:12 and change later, the Stars grasped momentum and their first lead in the series.
That lead, however, was brief, thanks to Henrik Zetterberg’s tying goal 19 seconds into the third period. But Mike Modano brought the Dallas faithful out of their seats with a badly needed power play goal, and Brendan Morrow gave the Stars an insurance goal. Stars goalie Marty Turco turned aside 35 shots in what was his best game of the series. The Wings had the Stars backed into a corner, and Dallas responded by biting the Wings.
Though the disallowed goal on Holmstrom hurt, it wasn’t the sole reason the Wings failed to clinch in Game 4. Had it not been for Osgood, who made two big saves in the early minutes of the game on Mike Ribeiro and Antii Miettinen, it could have been much worse. Osgood wasn’t as active as Turco, but was again sharp. On Modano’s power play goal, another break went the Stars’ way, in the form of Dan Cleary’s stick breaking that made the power play essentiall a 5-on-3.
The Wings weathered early storms from the Stars. Better yet it was Osgood, who helped kill off three straight Dallas power plays in the first period. But the tip of cap goes to the Stars on this night. Staring the end of their season in the eye, the Stars kept coming at Detroit. Dallas finally found a way to get the first goal and finally took some pressure off themselves playing with a lead. The team that scores first in this series is 4-0.
As the series shifts back to Detroit for Game 5, the Wings have to get off to a better start and find a way to put the pressure back on Dallas. For certain, if they start Game 5 the way they started Game 4, the Wings won’t like the end result. Detroit was too inactive early and though they played much better in the second and third periods, the Wings were never able to brush off their sluggish start.
The Wings are still in command of this series, 3-1, and they’ll be on home soil in Joe Louis Arena for Game 5. It’s going to take more work and better effort if Detroit is going to eliminate Dallas on Saturday afternoon. The Stars showed they aren’t about to surrender and waive the white flag, something the Wings had to painfully learn on Wednesday night.
The Stars were reduced to grasp at straws coming into Game 4, and Dallas latched on to a thin one. While this series isn’t full blown interesting just yet, it’ll be interesting to see if the Stars can bring their Game 4 effort and energy into Game 5. Detroit knows what’s coming, this isn’t rocket science. Dallas must play their best again. Anything short of their best won’t cut it. And if the Wings don’t turn in their best effort of the series, that won’t cut it either.
