The grins have morphed into grimaces. The glee and excitement are gone. Worry and caution have taken over, thanks to the determination and desperation of the Dallas Stars.
Marty Turco stopped 38 shots, and his teammates helped him win his first ever game as pro in Detroit, as the Stars edged the Wings 2-1 in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals. Game 6 will be back in Dallas on Monday night.
Game 3 was supposed to be the Stars’ last stand. Dallas held down the fort and then some, a prideful bunch determined not to be swept. They staved off elimination, hopped on a plane and headed for Detroit. Surely it was a great day to print up a fresh batch of playoff tickets and go to the Stanley Cup Finals. But instead, the tension has mounted. Doubt has begun to creep up and our fingernails are slowly being worn down to the quick.
The Stars bottled up and brought with them their Game 4 effort, managed to sneak it past security at the aiport in Detroit and bring it into Joe Louis Arena. The Wings have now lost two straight for the first time in nearly a month. Marty Turco snapped his Joe Louis Arena jinx, ending Detroit’s unbeaten home record in the playoffs this season. Safe to say now, this just got interesting and not for the better.
It’s hard to believe that these Red Wings are the same Wings that we saw run off nine wins in a row and put a 3-0 stranglehold on this series. In fact, they’re not. The things that we’ve seen plague Dallas and contribute to their 0-3 deficit are now troubling the Wings. Missed opportunities. Poor line changes. Defensive mix-ups. Shots fired wide of the cage. All were on display on Saturday afternoon.
At one point, I thought that Mike Emrick must have recorded himself saying “shoots it wide” or “just wide of the net”. No mistake about it, this wasn’t Chris Osgood’s loss. Osgood turned aside faced only 21 shots, turning aside 19 of them. He faced numerous odd man rushes, and had to deal with shotty line changes. Two Detroit gaffes on line changes cost the Wings two goals, one by Trevor Daley and the other by Joel Lundqvist. Osgood has been good, more than good, when needed. While it’s not on his shoulders to win this series, I’ll argue that Turco’s playing a tad better right and Osgood may have to steal Game 6. That is, if the guys in front of him decide to get their act together and help him out.
The Wings fired 39 shots at Turco and missed the net completely, 19 times. Yikes. Dan Cleary had one point blank. Tomas Holmstrom had a great chance, as did Brian Rafalski. Pavel Datsyuk fired eight shots but came up empty. Dallas put the clamps down on Henrik Zetterberg, and the Stars also gave the Wings a dose of their own defensive medicine, shifting into lockdown mode in the third period. Dallas never allowed Detroit to build any momentum offensively in the third, and the quicker time slipped away from the Wings, the more apparent it became that Dallas wouldn’t need anything more than a one-goal lead.
If you were to tell me around 4PM that Daley and Lundqvist were the goal scorers for the Stars, I would’ve said that it feels good to be headed back to the Stanley Cup Finals. But right now, nothing feels good. They’re still ahead in this series and as Osgood said afterwards, if you were to tell me before the series started that Detroit would be up 3-2 heading to Dallas, like Osgood, I would have definitely taken it.
However, after severely dominating Dallas the first three games in this series, the Wings are now a shell of their former selves. Their crisp, one-touch passing is off by more than a few hairs. Their fast moving possession game has turned sluggish. Give credit where credit is due. Marty Turco was good. The Wings’ as a whole, were worse.
So, between now and Monday night, there’s an awful lot to like about the Stars and an awful lot to be concerned about the Wings. Marty Turco has picked the right time to play his two best games of the series in Game 4 and Game 5. Dallas has improved dramatically defensively. And they managed to roll into town and steal Game 5 without their stars making a lot of noise. We didn’t hear Brad Richards’ name mentioned a whole lot on Saturday. The same can be said for the Mikes, Modano and Ribeiro. And other than his crossbar ringer, we didn’t hear much out of Brendan Morrow.
The Wings had the Stars down on the ice, flat on their backs. Instead of reading Dallas their eulogy and preparing to lower them six feet under, the Wings have given the Stars a reprieve, two in fact. The Wings’ stars weren’t their stars in Game 4 and even less in Game 5, and it seems as if the big question of secondary scoring coming into the playoffs still remains unresolved. Paging Dan Cleary and Mikael Samuelsson. Is Valtteri Filppula available? Are Tomas Holmstrom or Kris Draper preoccupied?
As good as Zetterberg and Datsyuk have been, you’re starting to get the feel that now more than ever, that they can’t finish off the Stars alone. Now the Wings are really missing Johan Franzen, and barring some tremendous, Mule will almost certain be missing in action for Game 6.
The Wings had this thing on cruise control, but now they’ve been reduced to riding the brake. These Stars aren’t flickering anymore, no, they’re beginning to shine brighter than ever. And as for Game 6 on Monday, well, let’s just say the word pressure will take on a whole new meaning.
Detroit can’t afford to play tight. They can’t afford to be tense, nor can they afford to let the Stars get on the board first. That’s happened the last two games, resulting in two Dallas victories. The team that scores first in this series is a perfect 5-0.
The Wings aren’t in big trouble yet, but trouble is in the neighborhood. Or at the front door for that matter. Somehow, Detroit must relish in the moment and discard their past six, uninspiring periods of hockey. They must be better, faster, smarter, and above all else, they must want this more than the Stars. If the Wings are outwilled again in Game 6, unquestionably there will be a Game 7 back in Detroit.
Detroit still holds the edge up 3-2 in the series, with potentially home ice advantage looming in Game 7. Hopefully on Monday night, the third time will be the charm for the Wings to eliminate the Stars.
