DALLAS — During the second period of Monday’s Game 3 in the Western Conference finals, some fans in the American Airlines Center tried parroting the derisive Red Wings chant that has become a staple during Detroit’s games in the Pepsi Center.
It didn’t do much good in Dallas, either.
Except, perhaps, to get some frustration out.
With linemates Pavel Datsyuk (three goals) and Henrik Zetterberg (a short-handed goal and two assists) again making the sort of plays that tormented the Avalanche in the previous series, the Red Wings stretched their postseason winning streak to nine games and took a 3-0 series lead with their 5-2 victory over the so-far overmatched Stars.
The Russian and the Swede both are finalists for the Selke Trophy, which goes to the player voted to be the NHL’s top defensive forward. And yet their stunning postseason play — Datsyuk now has eight goals in the playoffs, and Zetterberg nine — underscores their claim to be the best two-way forwards in the league.
“We didn’t have much answer for them tonight,” Dallas coach Dave Tippett said. “Those two are a rare breed, because they’re a line you look at that you should be checking, but in actual fact they’re a checking line.”
Detroit is within one win of the Stanley Cup Finals.
Dallas is within one loss of being done. Done like dinner. And done like Colorado.
If Dallas only had an ill goal-tender and a Swedish forward fighting a “grankle” injury, you could take the stories from the conference semifinals, use search and replace, and substitute “Stars” for all the “Avs.” Even with the Red Wings having to play the last two games without Johan Franzen, the “Mule” who had nine goals in the four-game romp past the Avalanche, because of concussion symptoms, they’re dominating.
Without the last change on the road, Detroit coach Mike Babcock in Game 3 flashed back a bit to the Wings’ five-man Russian Unit days, sending out his top line with the defensive pairing of Nick Lidstrom and Brian Rafalski. In the Detroit games, the line most often was up against the Stars’ Mike Ribeiro-centered line; in Game 3, the Wings mostly had the center Valtteri Filppula and his line out against Ribeiro and Brenden Morrow.
“When you don’t have to worry about chasing other guys around and you just get after the puck, sometimes it’s fun, too,” Babcock said.
“They’re causing us to do things we don’t want to do, and that’s what they’re good at,” said Dallas center Brad Richards, who had a first-period goal against Chris Osgood. “They’re a good team, anyway, and they’re playing with a lot of confidence right now — which they should be, because they’ve won however many games in a row.”
Stars veteran center Mike Modano, who hasn’t been on the winning side in three previous playoff matchups against Detroit in his 20-year NHL career, was downcast, but willing to give the Wings their due.
“They have tons of skill,” he said. “World-class players. Obviously, those five guys who play together — Datsyuk, Zetterberg and (Tomas) Holmstrom, and they have Lidstrom and Rafalski to get them the puck. They’re the five best guys I’ve seen or played against in a long time, and they pretty much carried the team tonight. They made some plays that were rare and don’t see very often.”
The Red Wings had only 21 shots on Dallas goalie Marty Turco, but Detroit — as is its tendency — took advantage of turnovers and other Stars mistakes in getting the puck past Turco five times. With the score tied 2-2, Jiri Hudler converted a breakway at 11:54 of the second period, and the backbreaker was Zetterberg’s short-handed goal, giving Detroit a 4-2 lead at 1:38 of the third.
Terry Frei: 303-954-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com
By the numbers
37-14 The Detroit Red Wings’ combined margin during their current nine-game winning streak . . . not to be confused with an LSU vs. Vanderbilt football score.
1.55 Chris Osgood’s goals-against average. (Osgood also finished up Game 4 against Nashville, Detroit’s last loss, then started every game since.)
23 The number of goals during streak by Pavel Datsyuk, above, Henrik Zetterberg and Johan Franzen.
