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Red Wings hope to end slide, advance to finals

May 19, 2008 - 1:33 PM Detroit at Dallas 8:00 pm EDT Western Conference finals Red Wings lead, 3-2

DALLAS (Ticker) - Just a few days ago, the Detroit Red Wings were on the verge of making a historic run. As they enter Game Six, they hope to avoid being one of the few teams forced into a do-or-die game after taking a three-game lead.

The Red Wings attempt to close out the pesky Dallas Stars in Game Six of the Western Conference finals and secure a Stanley Cup matchup with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

After dropping consecutive games to Nashville in its first-round series, Detroit rolled to nine straight wins - the longest such postseason streak in NHL history since Montreal's 11-game run in 1993. The end of that streak coincided with the Red Wings' three-games-to-none lead after last Monday's 5-2 win in Dallas.

Finding that fourth win, however, has proven to be elusive in part due to some stellar goaltending by Stars' netminder Marty Turco. Despite Detroit's 73-43 edge in shots in Games Four and Five, Turco has surrendered just a single goal in each contest.

"I think you've got to give him (Turco) credit," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "I haven't been through every scoring chance to know how good of saves he had to make all the time; I just know we had lots of shots on net. You have to give the goalie credit for being on the angle."

Thanks to Turco, Dallas became just the 13th team out of 153 to turn a 3-0 deficit into a 3-2 series with Saturday's 2-1 triumph. It's next goal will be to force Game Seven and become just one of five teams in NHL history to force such a game after a three-game deficit.

"It doesn't really matter what history is," Detroit defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom 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."

Ironically, Detroit's path so far has taken on the same road Dallas traveled down in its Western Conference semifinal matchup against San Jose, winning the first three games of the series before dropping Games Four and Five. The Stars collected themselves in time for Game Six in that round, but can the Red Wings?

"In one way, because of the position we were in, we're not happy to be where we are right now," Red Wings goaltender Chris Osgood said. "But in another way, they beat San Jose and Anaheim, so if you told us we'd be up 3-2 going back to Dallas before we started playing, we'd probably take it."

Not only does history suggest Detroit will move on - only two teams in NHL history have ever come back from a three-game deficit to win a seven-game series - but the Red Wings understand they could be in the Stars' predicament.

"We've got a lot of great players in this room," Red Wings right wing Jiri Hudler said. "They've been in situations more difficult than this. We're still up 3-2. We're the team that right now is up. We scored two goals in two games. Ozzie's (Osgood) playing great, so we've got to get two or three and there's a chance we're going to win."