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Lundqvist, Turco keep Stars alive

May 17, 2008 - 11:37 PM DETROIT (Ticker) -- Marty Turco posted his first career win at Joe Louis Arena at just the right time.

Turco made 38 saves and Joel Lundqvist snapped a tie six minutes into the second period as the fifth-seeded Dallas Stars stayed alive in the Western Conference finals Saturday with a 2-1 triumph over the top-seeded Detroit Red Wings in Game Five.

Defenseman Trevor Daley also scored for the Stars, who trail three games to two in the best-of-seven series and host Game Six on Monday.

"We're still in a do-or-die situation, but we're having a lot of fun with it," Dallas' Steve Ott said. "They absolutely are (feeling pressure). We're playing with a bunch of confidence, Marty's playing great, our four lines are rolling and our D looks pretty solid."

Turco - who also recorded an assist - turned aside 13 shots in the first period and 25 over the final two sessions en route to his first NHL win in Detroit. The University of Michigan product entered Saturday with a lifetime record of 0-9-2 at Joe Louis Arena.

"It feels good," Turco said. "Feels more good about the situation we were in, the environment we're in, the ability we had to overcome it. It's a huge challenge that only fractionally got better tonight, the way we're looking at it.

"For me, it's been a long time. But it's something I never thought that wouldn't happen in my career."

Jiri Hudler netted the lone goal for the Red Wings, who fell to 7-1 at home this postseason.

"You want to clinch so bad that it doesn't happen for you," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. "No one wanted to go back to Dallas. ... I don't think anybody, when we started this series, thought it was going to be easy. The Stanley Cup playoffs aren't supposed to be easy. Neither are the conference finals."

"I'm sure they're feeling good about themselves, winning two games, especially coming in here and winning," Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom said. "We just have to turn the tables on them."

Dallas is looking to become just the third team in Stanley Cup playoff history to come back and win a best-of-seven series after losing the first three games. But Lidstrom is more interested in the Red Wings taking care of their own business.

"It doesn't really matter what history is," he said. "We still have to bear down and play well going into Dallas. That's the main focus. You can't think about what's been going on in the past."

With the Stars having lost their previous 10 playoff games in the Motor City, Turco also ended that winless streak with his stellar play.

"We just felt, give us enough opportunities here, one of these days we're going to play well," Dallas' Mike Modano said. "(Turco's) going to stand out and win us a game here. It's a great thing about sports - a lot of second chances, a lot of chances to prove yourself over again, erase a lot of doubt that anybody has in you.

"Obviously, our track record plays tricks on the mind. You have some inner battles with that. ... But we felt throughout the day that we really had some good jump, good coverage. We skated well and did some things very well here that we hadn't done in a long time."

Perhaps Turco's best save came just 71 seconds into the contest, as he denied Daniel Cleary's one-timer from the low slot off a feed from the bottom of the left faceoff circle by Valtteri Filppula.

"You're not always 100 percent confident starting a game," Turco admitted. "You'd love some rubber, some easy ones to get into it. But right from the onset, warmups, the buildup was there for me. I didn't feel like I needed to get into it - I was already there."

Turco's performance drew plenty of praise from his teammates.

"To get his first win here was huge," Dallas' Mike Ribeiro said. "We knew he was ready for it. ... Kept us in the game most of the (time). ... It was huge for us. He's a big part of the team."

"Every time he's been backed up against the wall, he's responded. He's done that all season," Ott added. "Anytime there's been any sort of pressure on Marty Turco, he's always risen. When people doubt him or people put the slightest pressure on him, it doesn't faze him at all."

According to Stars coach Dave Tippett, Turco's lack of success in Detroit was blown out of proportion.

"There's been a lot documented about his struggles up here," 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.

"I thought there was so much battle in him. 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."

Babcock and Lidstrom, however, also believed Detroit missed numerous opportunities to score in which it failed to register a shot on goal.

"One of the keys for us, when we had our quality chances, we missed the net," Babcock said. "We missed the net 19 times tonight. We had ample opportunity, weren't able to get it done. When they were in lockdown mode, we didn't get enough people and pucks to the net for second chances."

"A couple times, I thought we had some good chances coming through the neutral zone with speed," Lidstrom added. "Sloppy pass, stickhandling isn't the way it has been."

In addition to his strong goaltending, Turco also helped generate some offense in the second period, firing a pass to Lundqvist in the neutral zone. After controlling the puck, the Swede skated down the right wing and unleashed a wrister from the faceoff circle that beat Osgood to the far side at 6:04, giving Dallas a 2-1 edge.

"He was toe-dragging it across and got a chance," Osgood said. "Because he's lefthanded, he can shoot or pass, so I can't really cheat. I've got to stay in the middle. He put a nice shot right off the post. ... If he was a righthanded shot, it would have been different. I just could have went at him. I'm not going to say I enjoyed it, but it was a nice goal."

"Lundy was great," Daley said. "Lundy's a great player, and he was flying out there tonight, which was huge for us."

Turco was more than happy to take advantage of a line change by Detroit and get the puck to Lundqvist.

"When they're making changes, there's always seams," Turco said. "More than anything for me, it's just the opportunity - when it presents itself - to grab pucks, to have lanes, to see them, make those plays.

"Some nights, lanes are there, sometimes the guys are on the same page. Sometimes you're just better seeing it. Tonight, we were on. Just had the puck in the right spots to make those plays."

Turco picked up his second career playoff assist on the play.

"Looked really aggressive," Modano said. "He didn't really second-guess himself. He just was going to go out there, play the puck, make the first correct and open play he saw. When he's jumping out of the net, making plays like that, you know he's involved, you know he's into it mentally. His focus was really good tonight."

Babcock felt the Red Wings were victimized by an unlucky bounce on Turco's pass.

"(The puck) hit (Darren) McCarty," Babcock said. "(Defenseman Chris) Chelios thought it was going in front of him and he came to the bench. That gave them their second goal, which is unfortunate."

However, Lidstrom felt the team was to blame for the untimely line change.

"You have to be smarter about it," the Norris Trophy finalist said. "Turco's so good at playing the puck that you have to have a guy sitting back a little bit, taking care of that."

"It's just being focused," Detroit defenseman Niklas Kronwall added. "You can't have that happening in a game like this. Hopefully, we can take care of that."

The goal proved to be the difference as the 32-year-old Turco stopped the final 28 shots he faced, including 12 in the third period in improving to 5-2 when Dallas has faced elimination over the last three postseasons.

Riding the momentum of their win in Game Four on Wednesday, the Stars had several good scoring chances in the early stages of the first period.

After Detroit defenseman Brad Stuart received a tripping penalty for taking down Ribeiro on a breakaway, Modano was alone on the doorstep but had his shot stopped by goaltender Chris Osgood less than five minutes into the contest.

"We knew they were going to come out hard," Lidstrom said.

With 12:53 remaining, Osgood came up big again, denying Brad Winchester from the left faceoff circle. But Dallas finally broke through at 9:21, when an unlikely source got on the scoreboard.

Brad Richards backhanded the puck between his legs to Daley, who moved in from the top of the slot and wristed a shot that beat Osgood to the stick side for a 1-0 lead. It was the first goal this postseason for the blue-liner and second in 28 career playoff games.

"I closed my eyes and it went in," Daley joked.

The Red Wings pulled even with 4 1/2 minutes left in the first.

With four seconds left on Daley's interference penalty, Kronwall slapped a pass from the top of the right circle to Hudler, whose initial shot from the left side of the crease was stopped by Turco. But the 24-year-old Czech fired the rebound off the left goalpost and into the net for a power-play goal, his fourth of the postseason.

Prior to Hudler's tally, Dallas had successfully killed Detroit's previous 14 man advantages.

"I think we have been creating some chances, we just haven't scored on them," Lidstrom said. "We haven't capitalized on the chances. We had three or four chances where we could have scored and we didn't. I think that was the difference in the game today."

With the Stars clinging to their 2-1 lead, captain Brenden Morrow nearly created some breathing room during a power play with 6:11 remaining in the third. But after getting past Chelios for a short breakaway, Morrow's wrister from the slot caromed off the crossbar and into the netting above the glass.

Osgood, who finished with 19 saves, believes the Red Wings need to tighten up defensively in Game Six.

"We gave up too many odd-man rushes tonight, for one reason or another," he said. "That was the most that I've seen in a long time. They're getting some speed through the neutral zone and getting some guys home-free a couple times. That can't happen at this time of the season. We've got to be mentally sharp, definitely can't allow that to happen anymore."