Wings dominant
DETROIT - The opening game of the NHL's Western Conference final was no contest.
The Detroit Red Wings continued to roll, winning their seventh straight game, in ripping the Dallas Stars 4-1 Thursday night.
As if they didn't already have enough offensive weapons, the Wings turned what had been an ordinary power play thus far in the post-season into a three-goal flame thrower.
Power-play goals by Brian Rafalski and Johan Franzen put Detroit up 2-0 in the first period, and a power-play goal by Tomas Holmstrom plus an even-strength goal by Valtteri Filpulla made it 4-0 before Brenden Morrow replied late in the second period.
The Red Wings hadn't played in a week but showed no signs of rust in the teams' first post-season meeting in 10 years.
Detroit outshot Dallas 31-21. Chris Osgood remained superb in the nets since replacing Dominik Hasek in the first round and improved to 7-0. Marty Turco, winless in 10 career regular-season starts in Joe Louis Arena, was a loser again. On power plays, Detroit was 3-for-6 and Dallas was 0-for-4 in front of a near-capacity crowd of more than 21,000.
Game 2 is Saturday in Detroit (CBC, 8 p.m.).
Six penalties were assessed in the first period. Dallas took four of them, and Detroit jumped to a 2-0 lead.
The Red Wings had a two-man advantage when Rafalski slapped a long shot that sailed over a kneeling and screened Turco at 4:28. Mattias Norstrom was serving a hooking penalty and Mark Fistric joined him in the penalty box for roughing up Holmstrom after a whistle.
Franzen deflected down a high Niklas Kronvall shot and sent the puck skittering past Turco's feet at 15:34 after Toby Petersen had been nabbed for holding.
Franzen's 12th goal of the post-season, in his team's 11th game, tied the club playoff record of five consecutive games with a goal.
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