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Red Wings cruise past Stars

Jan 3, 2008 - 4:51 AM By Chuck Klonke PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

DETROIT (Ticker) -- The Detroit Red Wings completed the best first half in franchise history on Wednesday night with a 4-1 victory over the Dallas Stars.

Detroit posted its 30th victory, marking the first time it has reached the plateau after 41 games. The 1994-95 and 1995-96 teams each registered 29 wins through 41 contests.

The 1995-96 squad finished with an NHL-record 62 victories.

"We've got some real good players and guys have been real professional during the first half of the season," said Red Wings coach Mike Babcock, who will guide the Western Conference in the All-Star Game on January 27 at Philips Arena in Atlanta. "When you get 30 wins in 41 games, it means you're doing something right."

Captain Nicklas Lidstrom pointed out that Detroit had to play through some adversity in the first half, including injuries to Henrik Zetterberg, Kris Draper, Kirk Maltby, Tomas Holmstrom and goaltender Dominik Hasek.

"We're playing really well as a team," Lidstrom said. "Even though we've had some injuries to key guys, others have stepped up and produced."

Chris Osgood continued his impressive play as he turned aside 23 shots to improve his record to 18-2-1 on the season. The veteran netminder is 26-10-3 lifetime against the Stars.

The loss was the second straight for Dallas, which had won eight of its previous nine games. Detroit has won five of its last six contests.

Zetterberg, who missed five games with back spasms, returned to the Red Wings' lineup and collected two assists.

"I thought (Henrik) was OK," Babcock said. "He had some jump."

Daniel Cleary opened the scoring 12:01 into the first period, gathering his own rebound and beating goaltender Marty Turco for his 13th goal of the season.

Johan Franzen gave Detroit a 2-0 lead at 7:28 of the second session. After accepting a brilliant feed from Aaron Downey, Franzen skated in alone on Turco and backhanded the puck into the net for his seventh tally.

Dallas Drake ended a 45-game goal-scoring drought and increased the Red Wings' bulge to three with his first tally of the season just 4:32 into the third period.

Zetterberg sent a pass from the left wing boards to Drake, who shot the puck between Turco's pads to give Detroit a 3-0 lead.

Pavel Datsyuk made it 4-0 at 13:13, when he redirected Lidstrom's shot from the blue line past Turco.

The Stars spoiled Osgood's shutout bid on a wraparound goal by Loui Eriksson with 6:01 remaining.

"I thought we played a strong overall game tonight," Lidstrom said. "Ozzie made some big saves early. We weren't happy with the way we played Monday night (in a 2-0 loss to St. Louis). We looked tired, but we had our spark back tonight. We had good legs."

Turco, who played his college hockey at the University of Michigan, has had trouble beating Detroit in his NHL career. He made 22 saves in this one but fell to 1-9-5 lifetime vs. the Red Wings.

"You don't have to remind me," Turco said when asked about his troubles in Detroit. "It's not just here, it's anywhere."

Stars coach Dave Tippett was not thrilled with his netminder's performance.

"I thought we had some real good chances. They had some, too," Tippett said. "Theirs went in and ours didn't."

The Stars played without defenseman Sergei Zubov, who injured his hand blocking a shot in Monday's game with Nashville. Zubov is listed as day-to-day but is not expected to return before Saturday's rematch with Detroit in Dallas.