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| Thursday's National Hockey League Capsules |
| By PA SportsTicker DETROIT 4, DALLAS 1 ------------------- DETROIT (Ticker) -- A six-day layoff did little to slow down Johan Franzen and the Detroit Red Wings. Franzen, defenseman Brian Rafalski and Tomas Holmstrom scored power-play goals as the top-seeded Red Wings cruised to a 4-1 victory over the fifth-seeded Dallas Stars in Game One of the Western Conference finals. Valtteri Filppula also tallied while captain Nicklas Lidstrom and fellow blue-liner Niklas Kronwall each recorded a pair of assists for the Presidents' Trophy-winning Red Wings, who outshot the Stars, 12-4, in the first period. Chris Osgood made 20 saves in improving to 7-0 in the playoffs for Detroit, which hosts Game Two on Saturday. Captain Brenden Morrow scored and Marty Turco stopped 27 shots for the Stars, who lost all three of their previous postseason meetings with the Red Wings. Playing for the first time since May 1, Detroit began its power-play onslaught just 4 1/2 minutes into the contest. After Lidstrom's slap shot from the top of the left faceoff circle rang off the right goalpost, Rafalski wristed the puck past a screened Turco during a two-man advantage for his second goal of the postseason. The tally stretched the Red Wings' streak of consecutive games with a power-play goal to five. With 4:26 to go in the first period, Kronwall unleashed a slapper from the blue line that Franzen deflected past Turco for his league-leading 12th playoff goal and a 2-0 lead. It extended Franzen's goal-scoring streak to five games, tying him with Gordie Howe and Ted Lindsay for the franchise record. Howe accomplished the feat in both 1949 and 1964, while Lindsay recorded a five-game run in 1952. The goal was the 27th in the last 27 games dating to March 2 for Franzen, who tallied nine times in Detroit's four-game sweep of the Colorado Avalanche in the conference semifinals. It also pulled him even with Jaromir Jagr of the New York Rangers for the playoff scoring lead with 15 points. Henrik Zetterberg nearly matched the mark less than six minutes into the second period, but his wraparound attempt at the left post was thwarted by Turco, who just got his stick down in time to stop the puck from crossing the goal line. Just 11 seconds later, Niklas Hagman had a chance to get Dallas on the scoreboard but was denied on a short breakaway by Osgood. Detroit cashed in on the power play a third time shortly thereafter for a 3-0 bulge. From the left circle, Lidstrom - a finalist for the Norris Trophy - wristed the puck, which hit the right knee of Holmstrom in front and got past Turco at 6:40. Filppula, who was questionable to play due to a leg injury, made it a four-goal cushion with 4:23 remaining in the period, beating Turco with a wrister during a short solo rush. The Stars finally broke through against Osgood with 67 seconds left in the session, when Morrow buried the rebound of Steve Ott's shot from the right circle for his eighth of the postseason. With time winding down, Ott had an opportunity to halve the deficit but hit the right post on a breakaway with 55 seconds remaining. |
