Marty Can't Win - Mo Can't Lose

Marty Turco can’t win. And I don’t mean against the Detroit Red Wings. I mean he can’t win with the Dallas media and fans.

Suffering largely from hockey “know-nothingness” and “what have you done for me lately” syndrome, the critics are folding their judgmental arms and turning a suspicious eye towards the humble Dallas net minder, sighting his poor record versus the Red Machine.

Easily perplexed by the more intricate aspects of this icy sport, the armchair coaches here in Dallas tend to boil things down to simplistic elements. I.e. if the puck goes in the net, it MUST be the guy with the big pads' fault. No consideration is given to the fact that it was a 3 on 1 or a complete breakdown of the defense.

And to Marty Turco’s credit, he would be the LAST to complain about this. He understands what is asked of him here. But I can’t be so accepting.

Unfortunately, even as a loyal Stars fan, I have to suspect that the Wings will probably prevail in this series, but even if they do, I’m still inclined to view this year’s campaign a successful one for Dallas…perhaps painfully short of the desired goal, but still successful.

This may sound even more absurd, but after his play so far, I’m willing to give Mr. Turco a pass – no matter what the outcome of this series is.

If there’s blame to be handed out, there are plenty of other team members to serve it up to.

Top of the list? Mike Modano – who, for some uncanny reason seems to duck serious criticism every year. It’s a phenomenon. No matter how mediocre this guy’s play is, he’s never held accountable. Is it his winning good looks? His history with the franchise? Or simply the fact that he’s the best fake hustler in the league?

Who’s to say? But anyway, we’re not here to dump on the high-floating Mikey Mo. We’re talking about goaltending and the Detroit-Dallas series.

Putting all the onus on a goalie for a team’s loss in a best of 7 series is the elementary thought process of a six year old. It’s a myopic logic reserved for the dough-heads who run the Vancouver Canucks. The “Nucks” figured they could get themselves a great goalie, ice a supporting cast of cheap spares and still make the playoffs. Surprise! No wonder Luongo keeps crapping his pants!

After this run for the Stars is over, and the bandwagon has been ditched like and old Ford Pinto, the team will be slagged up and down the roster by the fair-weather hockey fans of Dallas. But no one will get it worse than Marty… and no one will get it less than Mr. Modano, who has admittedly accepted his diminished roll on the team while still managing to contribute to their post season success this year.

However, you only need to look at his performance in the previous few playoff campaigns… or his dismal plus/minus this year (worst on the team), to start wondering, not only how he’s able to dodge the critics, but also how he is often heralded as the best player on this team.

And Mighty Mo is setting it up to be just so.

When asked what it would take to beat the Wings, the PriModano pointed the finger at Marty, saying they “needed him to be the best player.” Sure, Mike… I certainly don’t expect YOU to be.

Sounds like he’s planning on ducking accountability again this year.

It’s all unfair… from several angles, but then again, no one ever said it was going to be fair… just ask the referees.