DALLAS -- Henrik Zetterberg picked up the puck in Detroit's zone and took off, carrying on his shoulders the Red Wings' winning streak and crushing beneath his skates the Stars' playoff hopes. Up the ice he went, into Dallas' zone, dancing around Brad Richards and flicking a wrist shot past Marty Turco, the short-handed goal helping secure a 5-2 victory for the Wings on Monday night at American Airlines Center and a 3-0 lead in the Western Conference finals. Game 4 is Wednesday.
The victory stretched Detroit's winning streak to a club-record nine straight games in one playoff year. They haven't lost since April 16 thanks in no small part to the dominating play of Zetterberg, who had a goal and two assists, and Pavel Datsyuk, whose late goal gave him a hat trick.
"They're awesome," Chris Osgood said. "There were some super goals tonight. Nothing Marty could even do about those; I mean, they were all great, great goals. Those two are superstars. The good thing about them is they're complete players. They back-checked and pickpocketed some guys even when it was 4-2, 5-2, with minutes left in the game, that just goes to show you we have no selfish guys. That's why we keep winning."
Zetterberg assisted on two of Datsyuk's goals.
"We didn't have much answer for them tonight," Dallas coach Dave Tippett said. "Those two are a rare breed, because they're a line that you look at that you should be checking, but in actual fact they're a checking line."
Rafalski had two assists, and Jiri Hudler scored off a 90-foot pass from Niklas Kronwall.
Zetterberg scored 1:38 into the third period, feeding off Brenden Morrow's turnover and slashing across Dallas' zone.
"They weren't back-checking, so it made it easy for me to cut in the middle," Zetterberg said.
Osgood called that goal, and the one from Hudler, the momentum-turners of the game. Datsyuk's play, meanwhile, impressed even those who see so much of him.
"That's one of his better games I've seen," Nicklas Lidstrom said. "It looks like he's going to lose the puck, or someone is going to hit him, but somehow, he finds a way to keep control of the puck and making strides and going to the net. He's one of the few players that can do that. He's so shifty when you try to stand up on him or play his body that he can move around you."
Datsyuk's game plan was simple enough.
"Tried to skate more, go deep in the zone, make the defensemen turn," he said. "And tried to go to the net and shoot everything to Turco."
Zetterberg and Datsyuk, both finalists for the 2008 Selke Trophy, given to the top defensive forward, have developed an almost magical chemistry during their many games together.
"Most of the time he's real good," Zetterberg said. "That's what makes him good. His lowest level is really high. He plays real good for us, night in, night out. And you know you can really trust him because he will play good offense and good defense for us every time he's out there."
The two are so good defensively they're key members of the Wings' penalty killers, a group that has rendered the Stars' power play 1-for-15 in the series.
"We're trying to win face-offs, make them start 200 feet, but they had some good looks tonight and Ozzie had to make some big saves," Kris Draper said. "And then a huge, huge goal by Z. We got into a little bit of penalty trouble there and Z scores an unbelievable short-handed goal and that was big for us."
Datsyuk and Zetterberg teamed up on the first goal, with Zetterberg racing up the right wing before finding Datsyuk, who beat Turco with a backhand during four-on-four play, at 9:27 of the first period. Nicklas Grossman tied things up at 15:13, but Datsyuk immediately restored Detroit's lead, arriving at the net on a rush just in time to receive a pass from Tomas Holmstrom and chip in a backhand at 15:50.
Richards scored when the puck went in off Brad Stuart 3:47 into the second period, but a few minutes later Kronwall took advantage of a bad Dallas line change and sprang Hudler, whose backhand stood up as the game-winner and dropped Turco to 2-13-5 in his career against Detroit.
Poster Comment:
When politics is too depressing, watching hockey lifts my spirits. Hockey players, imo, are the unsung athletic stars of sports. Winning the ultimate prize - the Stanley Cup - involves the most rigorous test of athletic abilities of any sport bar none. I appreciate the Detroit players' amazing skills - the 7 Swedish players all rock!