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Drake, Zetterberg lift Red Wings to Stanley Cup Finals

May 20, 2008 - 4:26 AM DALLAS (Ticker) -- Hockeytown has found its way back to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Dallas Drake and Henrik Zetterberg each had a goal and an assist as the Detroit Red Wings returned to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 2002 with a 4-1 triumph over the Dallas Stars on Monday in Game Six of the Western Conference finals.

Kris Draper and Pavel Datsyuk also scored and Chris Osgood made 28 saves for the Presidents' Trophy-winning Red Wings, who claimed the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl and will face the Eastern Conference champion Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup Finals. Game One is Saturday at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.

Detroit and Pittsburgh did not meet in the regular season, although the Red Wings recorded a pair of preseason victories in a home-and-home series on September 21-22.

"This is why we're moving on. It's a total team effort," Draper said. "We know we're going to do that. We need some secondary scoring. Give all credit to Dallas and everything they threw at us. Now we're moving on to the big one."

The "big one" will also be the first all-American finals since 2003, when the New Jersey Devils defeated the then-Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, who were guided at the time by current Red Wings coach Mike Babcock.

"We lost in Game Seven," Babcock recalled. "We were tied after the first and I remember thinking we were going to win for sure (if) we got through the first - and we lost.

"I think experience is a great thing. When you don't have it, you think it's overrated. When you have it, it's different. The Stanley Cup Finals is different than the playoffs, it's so much energy."

Defenseman Stephane Robidas tallied and Marty Turco finished with 25 saves for Dallas, which rallied from an early three-games-to-none deficit to extend the series on two occasions. The Stars could not do so another time, as the Red Wings won the series four games to two.

"I thought it was a combination of us hoping to win and Detroit pushing the issue to win," Dallas coach Dave Tippett said. "Once you get trailing, you're chasing the game."

Draper opened the scoring just 3:45 into the first period, albeit by the most unusual of circumstances.

Drake wristed a shot from the left faceoff circle which hit Draper in the chin on the doorstep. The Ontario native, who will celebrate his 37th birthday on Saturday, then fell into Turco as the puck squeezed into the net for his third goal of the postseason.

"If I have to score like that every game at this time of year, I'll take it," Draper said.

While the play was being reviewed, Draper immediately retreated to the locker room. He was still getting stitched up when Datsyuk doubled Detroit's advantage nearly eight minutes later.

With the Red Wings on the power play, five-time Norris Trophy winner Nicklas Lidstrom wristed a shot on net from just inside the blue line which caromed off the skate of Nicklas Grossman. Alertly, Datsyuk collected the puck and wristed it just under the crossbar for his ninth tally of the postseason.

The early advantage was pivotal, according to Lidstrom.

"Losing two games in a row, they had the momentum going into their building and their fans were really into it early on in the game - and I thought we took it out of them right away, right off the bat," Lidstrom said. "With the first few shifts, we were coming after them hard and getting the puck to the net.

"That's something we talked about all playoffs, and I thought we got away from that in Games Four and Five (both losses), and tonight's game we were back at doing the right things - the little things right that paid off at the end."

Drake gave Detroit a three-goal bulge with 3:43 remaining after defenseman Brett Lebda wristed a centering feed to the unmarked 39-year-old, who was successful on his second attempt to slip the puck past Turco for his first playoff goal in four years.

"I tried to tell the young guys how hard it is to get there," Drake said. "This is the closest I've been. Detroit was a team I wanted to play for, a team that had a chance to win."

Zetterberg added a shorthanded tally just 3:41 into the second period to expand Detroit's advantage to 4-0. The talented Swede intercepted a feed from Dallas captain Brenden Morrow at his own blue line, skated up the center of the ice before deking Turco to the ice and wristing the puck into the net for his 11th goal of the postseason.

Robidas put the Stars on the scoreboard 2:27 into the third period.

With Dallas on its seven power play, the blue-liner one-timed a shot from the top of the slot past Osgood.

"I can't explain what happened," Robidas said of his team's sluggish start. "I think we (knew we) were still down 3-2 and it was a must-win for us. When you play a team like Detroit, you can't give freebies."

That was all Osgood would surrender in this one. The veteran netminder made numerous quality saves, including stopping Niklas Hagman on a breakaway with four minutes remaining to maintain his team's three-goal cushion.

Osgood, who recorded his franchise-best 48th postseason victory to move past Hall of Famer Tarry Sawchuk, didn't want to get ahead of himself in regard to the Stanley Cup Finals.

"I'm just going to regroup, relax and enjoy it for now until we're ready to go before we play it again," said Osgood, who improved to 10-2 in the postseason.

Now the netminder will be attempting to secure his third Stanley Cup ring.

As for Turco, he was understandably dejected.

"This is as tough as any (loss) I've experienced," Turco said. "It was a tremendous feeling and opportunity to watch this team grow and accomplish what we have. I can't say that I've seen a bigger learning experience from a team in the last couple months."