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dallas morningnews --
If you look at this thing logically ... well, if you're a Dallas Stars fan, you better take a different viewpoint of the Western Conference finals than one based purely on logic.
The Stars are playing their best hockey in years. It's still not at the level the Detroit Red Wings have reached.
Again.
The Red Wings are the constant in an NHL landscape that changes dramatically from year to year. One year's finalists are next year's first-round losers or playoff no-shows.
The Red Wings roll on. They won the Presidents' Trophy as the team that collected the most points (115) during the regular season. And they tied for the best overall record in 2006.
And they had the best record in 2004. And 2003.
That's sort of where the good news comes in for those hoping to see a Stars upset in Round 3.
The Red Wings did not capture the Stanley Cup in any of those seasons.
In 2003, they were swept in the opening round by a seventh seed (Anaheim).
In 2004, they fell to Calgary, a sixth seed, in the second round.
In 2006, when they scored a ridiculous 124 points during the regular season, the Wings lost to eighth-seeded Edmonton in the opening round.
And a year ago, when they were tied with Buffalo for the most regular-season points, Detroit lost in the Western Conference finals to the No. 2-seeded Ducks.
So if these guys can lose to an eight, seven and a six, why not a five as in Dallas?
It's true the Red Wings don't always close the deal when they are the best team in the league. The scary part is they're the best team in the league so often that you have to figure they are due to win one again.
Here's what I don't like about the Stars' chances in this series:
One of their real strengths, in the wake of the late-season trade, is their depth at center. Mike Ribeiro, Brad Richards and Mike Modano give this team a really nice 1-2-3 punch in the middle.
All are capable of logging more minutes than coach Dave Tippett has demanded of them. Stars fans should hope to see very little of the No. 4 center and plenty of these three in this series.
But that 1-2-3 punch can be fairly easily negated by the Red Wings. This is a team that doesn't let you play with the puck.
Historically, this has been a great puck possession team since the days of the five Russians more than a decade ago. It remains so.
The Red Wings not only average 3.8 goals per game to their opponents' 2.0 in these playoffs, they have outshot their foes an average of 39 to 25 per game. They win faceoffs, they get the puck and they keep it.
That means Ribeiro and Richards and Modano will be doing a lot of chasing in this series and not nearly as much stick-handling as they would like.
The Stars also have advanced to the conference finals because of a power play that is clicking along at 25 percent.
You can get the Wings in the penalty box some but not often enough. They have taken 41 penalties in 10 playoff games. Heck, Dallas got Anaheim into the box 38 times in just a six-game series.
Here's what I like about the Stars' chances:
They have Marty Turco. And he will not be negatively impacted by his history of poor play against Detroit. How he is playing now is far more significant, and he has a chance to be better than Chris Osgood in this series.
They have Brenden Morrow. And there isn't a player in the league right now making a better effort to simply will his team to victory.
I think the Stars will give the Red Wings a better test than Nashville did and a far better test than Colorado did.
But if I have to pick what really makes the absolute most sense, I am going with the Red Wings in seven games.
dallas morningnews --
If you look at this thing logically ... well, if you're a Dallas Stars fan, you better take a different viewpoint of the Western Conference finals than one based purely on logic.
The Stars are playing their best hockey in years. It's still not at the level the Detroit Red Wings have reached.
Again.
The Red Wings are the constant in an NHL landscape that changes dramatically from year to year. One year's finalists are next year's first-round losers or playoff no-shows.
The Red Wings roll on. They won the Presidents' Trophy as the team that collected the most points (115) during the regular season. And they tied for the best overall record in 2006.
And they had the best record in 2004. And 2003.
That's sort of where the good news comes in for those hoping to see a Stars upset in Round 3.
The Red Wings did not capture the Stanley Cup in any of those seasons.
In 2003, they were swept in the opening round by a seventh seed (Anaheim).
In 2004, they fell to Calgary, a sixth seed, in the second round.
In 2006, when they scored a ridiculous 124 points during the regular season, the Wings lost to eighth-seeded Edmonton in the opening round.
And a year ago, when they were tied with Buffalo for the most regular-season points, Detroit lost in the Western Conference finals to the No. 2-seeded Ducks.
So if these guys can lose to an eight, seven and a six, why not a five as in Dallas?
It's true the Red Wings don't always close the deal when they are the best team in the league. The scary part is they're the best team in the league so often that you have to figure they are due to win one again.
Here's what I don't like about the Stars' chances in this series:
One of their real strengths, in the wake of the late-season trade, is their depth at center. Mike Ribeiro, Brad Richards and Mike Modano give this team a really nice 1-2-3 punch in the middle.
All are capable of logging more minutes than coach Dave Tippett has demanded of them. Stars fans should hope to see very little of the No. 4 center and plenty of these three in this series.
But that 1-2-3 punch can be fairly easily negated by the Red Wings. This is a team that doesn't let you play with the puck.
Historically, this has been a great puck possession team since the days of the five Russians more than a decade ago. It remains so.
The Red Wings not only average 3.8 goals per game to their opponents' 2.0 in these playoffs, they have outshot their foes an average of 39 to 25 per game. They win faceoffs, they get the puck and they keep it.
That means Ribeiro and Richards and Modano will be doing a lot of chasing in this series and not nearly as much stick-handling as they would like.
The Stars also have advanced to the conference finals because of a power play that is clicking along at 25 percent.
You can get the Wings in the penalty box some but not often enough. They have taken 41 penalties in 10 playoff games. Heck, Dallas got Anaheim into the box 38 times in just a six-game series.
Here's what I like about the Stars' chances:
They have Marty Turco. And he will not be negatively impacted by his history of poor play against Detroit. How he is playing now is far more significant, and he has a chance to be better than Chris Osgood in this series.
They have Brenden Morrow. And there isn't a player in the league right now making a better effort to simply will his team to victory.
I think the Stars will give the Red Wings a better test than Nashville did and a far better test than Colorado did.
But if I have to pick what really makes the absolute most sense, I am going with the Red Wings in seven games.
