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The Detroit Red Wings and Dallas Stars played only four times this season, and the last meeting came nearly two months ago. And as far as playoffs go, these teams have met up only once in the past, back in 1998 when Detroit won the Western Conference finals in six games.
Still, Red Wings forward Henrik Zetterberg expects there to be "bad blood before this is over."
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| Detroit's Niklas Kronwall is tied for the playoff scoring lead among defensemen with the Stars' Stephane Robidas. (AP) |
Can Marty get his Mo-Joe back? Stars goalie Marty Turco has some fond memories of games at Joe Louis Arena from his days with the Michigan Wolverines, but as a pro, not so much. And he obviously doesn't like to be reminded about it, telling reporters on a conference call this week that the past is irrelevant now.
The numbers don't lie. Turco has beaten the Red Wings only twice in 17 starts since joining Dallas as Ed Belfour's backup in 2000, with neither win coming in his old stomping ground. Turco is 0-7-2 with a 3.38 GAA and .882 save percentage at the Joe.
How stubborn is the Mule? That's Johan Franzen's nickname, in case you were wondering, and it fits someone who just won't let anyone hamper his incredible scoring exploits of late. Franzen was seen as a minor leaguer when Detroit brought him over from Sweden after the lockout, but he made the club as a role player and lately has become the NHL's most dangerous offensive threat.
Franzen scored 15 times in the final 16 regular-season games and has picked up the pace more in the playoffs with 11 goals (four game-winners) in Detroit's 10 games. Just don't ask him about it. "I don't want to talk about the records. I just want to win eight more games," Franzen said.
Is energy better than conservation? There are those who wonder if Detroit will be able to deal with the Stars' physical game, which is more intense than anything the Red Wings faced against Nashville or Colorado in earlier rounds.
Then again there could be an advantage for an older team like Detroit that didn't get banged around much, especially since it will have had a full week off when the first puck is dropped. Dallas will still be riding the momentum from winning a series that took longer, but at some point the poundings they took from both Anaheim and San Jose could catch up with them.
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Is the D better in Detroit or Dallas? When you're getting more than two points a night from your back end, things are pretty good. And so they are for the Red Wings, who have picked up 22 points in 10 playoff games so far from Nicklas Lidstrom, Niklas Kronwall and Brian Rafalski. Detroit's defense is just as effective in its own end as well, and is one of the reasons Red Wings goalies face fewer shots than anyone.
The Stars aren't as deep along the blue line as Detroit and have three rookies back there, but veteran Stephane Robidas is tied for the playoff scoring lead among defensemen (with Kronwall), Mattias Norstrom is a physical presence and veteran Sergei Zubov should be recognized more often in discussions about the best in the business.
Which numbers really tell the story? The Stars plucked the Ducks in the first round mainly because they scored 10 times on the power play. Dallas wasn't quite as effective against San Jose, but their man-advantage unit is still clicking at 25 percent, the best in the playoffs, and their penalty killers have stopped opponents 85.7 percent.
That's slightly better than Detroit's 85.4 rate, although the Red Wings have some ground to make up on the power play; they have connected on only 20.4 percent of their tries. Then again, Detroit leads the playoffs with 3.80 goals per game, nearly a full goal better than fifth-ranked Dallas, and the Red Wings are firing nearly 40 shots a night at goalies, or about 10 more than Dallas.
