Western Conference Final: Awful Refereeing Gives Dallas Stars New Life

Tonight, game four of the Western conference final was presented and the Dallas Stars were down 0-3 in this series and facing elimination. But the story of the game was the questionable quality of the officiating.For many reasons, the Detroit Red Wings have every right to blame the referees for their contribution to the Stars victory. During the first period, Dallas had three straight man-advantages but were not able to convert on any of them. Then later in the period, a goal from Pavel Datsyuk was disallowed because the referee judged that Tomas Holmstrom was standing in the goaltender's crease. But it was clear on the replay that Holmstrom was not inside the blue paint.

Late in the second period, after the referees equalized the penalties by calling three straight against Dallas, the Stars opened scoring with a goal from Loui Eriksson.

The Red Wings tied the game at 1 during the first minute of the third period when Henrik Zetterberg scored his tenth goal of the playoffs.  But Mike Modano scored the game-winner during a penalty to Brian Rafalski five minutes into the period. Brenden Morrow scored the insurance goal ten minutes later with his ninth goal of the playoffs.

Final score: Dallas Stars 3 - Detroit Red Wings 1 (Detroit leads the series by 3-1)

The ''first star of the game'' could be awarded to the referees. Their judgement was simply awful during the whole course of this game and their pitiful work should be the main topic tomorrow in Detroit.

Game five will be played at the Joe Louis Arena, Stars' goaltender Marty Turco is still looking for his first career victory in Detroit.

(Picture: Getty Images.)