Red Wings - Stars: Highlights from Game 1 and a Detroit/Dallas Series Preview

How many more wins is it going to take to convince people that Osgood is not going anywhere?  Almost every article and series preview out there feels the need to mention how Detroit needs to be willing to pull the trigger and replace Osgood with Hasek if he gets shaky.  Ozzie is here to stay for the rest of the playoffs.  He never got the recognition that he deserved after winning the Cup in '98.  He is the man for the Wings, and after winning seven games in a row and posting league-best numbers, why would anybody think otherwise?

Like others, Dallas needs to key in on certain elements in order to win against the Wings.  They first need to control Franzen and Holmstrom in front of Turco.  They were unable to do this in game one and it cost them.  Franzen and Homer each had a goal and Homer provided the screen in front for another goal.

Second, Dallas needs to find a way to crack Detroit's seemingly impenetrable defensive corp.  Other than a fluke goal (in my opinion), Dallas could not move the puck through the neutral zone with any flow whatsoever.  Detroit's D-men were able to congest the zone and blue line so well that Dallas could hardly even dump the puck behind Ozzie to set up a play.

The Wings are a puck possession team first, but have perfected the dump-and-chase style as well.  With two dangerous options to get to Turco, the Stars must be able to control the tempo of the game with puck possesion.  Letting the Wings do as they will means the Stars lose.

Finally, Dallas needed to have their goalie out-duel Detroit's goalie.  Turco, after having a tremendous amount of success at The Joe as a University of Michigan player, has not won at the Joe Louis in his professional career.  Sure, he made some big saves and his team seemed to let him down, but a goalie needs to steal the show in the playoffs in order to win.  Turco did not do this in game one.

I need to note that I am a Wings fan, rain or shine.  I talk of the keys to a Dallas success only because I believe that knowing what your opponent needs to do in order to win can only help you.  With the Wings, they just need to do what they have been doing: control the game, get consistent goaltending, and keep their scorers doing what they do best.

As biased as I am, I still don't see any scenario that would favor the Stars against the Red Wings.  The Wings' power-play was by far superior to Dallas' in game one as was their goaltending.  The Wings were even able to generate several great scoring chances shorthanded! If this series continues in this fashion I could easily see another collapse like the Avalanche had.

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