Detroit, MI (My Sportsbook) - Marty Turco made 38 saves, including 12 in the
third period, as the
Dallas Stars staved off elimination again with a 2-1 win
over the Detroit Red Wings in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals at Joe
Louis Arena.
Trevor Daley and Joel Lundqvist scored for Dallas, which trails the best-of-
seven series, 3-2. Turco has endured hard times at Joe Louis Arena throughout
his career, entering play with a mark of 0-9 (with two ties), but the product
of the University of Michigan was stellar between the pipes in this game.
Turco also had an assist in the contest.
"Well, there's been a lot documented about his (Turco) struggles up here,"
Dallas coach Dave Tippett said. "I don't look at it as his struggles. I look
at it as our team struggles up here. For us to be successful, he has to be
very good. That's what you saw from him tonight. Our team, one of our themes
all year is find a way to win and have the will to win. I think Marty
exemplified that tonight. He wasn't going to be denied in this game. He made
enough saves in this game for us to get us the win."
Jiri Hudler provided the offense for Detroit, which suffered its first loss at
home in the playoffs (7-1). Chris Osgood allowed two goals on 21 shots in
defeat.
"It was more or less the same as Game 4," Osgood said. "They took it to us
pretty good. They got a couple power plays and had some chances. For the most
part, we've got to do a better job of getting to the net and getting some
rebound goals and getting in front of him (Turco) a little bit more."
Game 6 is scheduled for Monday night in Dallas.
For only the second time in the series, the Stars opened the scoring. Turco
ventured out of the net to handle the puck and played it off the far boards to
Niklas Hagman, who handed off to Brad Richards. Richards carried the puck
across the blue line before dropping the puck between his legs to Daley coming
late. Daley gathered the feed, skated down the middle and snapped a shot that
beat Osgood on the stick-side at the 9:21 mark of the first period.
Detroit evened the score on the power play. In the waning seconds of the man
advantage, Niklas Kronwall threaded a perfect slap-pass to Hudler unattended
at the left side of the goal. Turco made an outstanding save on the initial
shot, but Hudler shoveled the rebound off the near post with 4:30 remaining in
the opening stanza.
The Stars reclaimed the lead at the 6:04 mark of the middle stanza. A poor
line change by Detroit resulted in an odd-man rush for Dallas. Lundqvist raced
down the right wing and his snap shot from the faceoff circle found room on
the near side.
Turco shined in the third period, making key save after key save to preserve
the lead and keep the Stars alive. In the final minute, Detroit pulled Osgood
for an extra skater, but couldn't come up with the equalizer.
Game Notes
Dallas snapped a 10-game playoff losing streak at Joe Louis Arena...Detroit
forward Johan Franzen, who leads the NHL with a franchise-record 12 playoff
goals, missed his fourth straight game with concussion-like symptoms...The
Stars were without forwards Stu Barnes (headaches) and Jere Lehtinen (leg),
and defensemen Philippe Boucher (strained hip) and Mark Fistric
(mononucleosis)...The 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs and the 1975 New York Islanders
are the only NHL teams ever to win a playoff series after dropping the first
three games...Detroit finished 1-for-3 on the power play, while Dallas went 0-
for-4.
