Moore to Say

~Wings keep rolling~

-By Mike Moore-

It shouldn’t have been this easy. Not at a time in the year when every shift, shot and turn means so much. Not in a playoff schedule where it had been an entire week since the last game played. Not against a team that had already beaten two teams it had no business beating

It shouldn’t have been this easy for the Red Wings in Game 1 against Dallas in the Western Conference Finals, but it was.

The Wings picked up right where they left off Thursday night, exactly a week since embarrassing Colorado in an 8-2 win, Detroit opened the third round with a 4-1 drubbing of Dallas.

And it wasn’t even that close.

Many expected a tough, low scoring, drawn-out series, and that still may play itself out, but what was ever so apparent during Game 1 is this is a Detroit team head and shoulders above the rest of the playing field. 

The onslaught began early. Even when the Wings caught a bad break, Nick Lidstrom ringing a shot off the goal post during a 5-on-3 advantage, it turned good, Brian Rafalski wristing home the ensuing rebound to take a 1-0 lead in the first. 

It continued all night, and it was the familiar names chipping in.

Johan Franzen continued his shredding of the playoff record book, scoring his 12^th of the postseason with less than five minutes remaining in the first, his fifth straight game with a goal, tying a playoff mark previously held by guys named Howe and Lindsay.

“That’s really something,” he laughed afterwards. 

Detroit out shot Colorado, er, Dallas, 12-4 in the first period. The Stars’ best chance of the night came about six minutes into the second. Just moments after Marty Turco made a brilliant save on Henrik Zetterberg to keep the game at 2-0, Chris Osgood did likewise on Niklas Hagman. The crowd rose and chanted “Ozzie, Ozzie,” who was again solid in net, stopping 20 shots and running his record to 7-0 this postseason. 

The rest of the night seemed unfair, really. Detroit controlled the puck, the tempo and their emotions, staying out of the penalty box, something Dallas refused to do, allowing three power-play tallies. 

“I’m not worried about how the Red Wings played. I’m worried about how we played,” Dallas coach Dave Tippett said. “That’s a game that wasn’t even close to the games we played in the playoffs. We did a lot of standing around tonight. We weren’t at the level we needed to be.” 

Not even close.

The Wings proved this is their series to have. They are the better team, more rested, with more weapons and a confidence and swagger that somehow grows each night. Obviously, this was just one game, and the Wings are smart enough to realize that.

“All we’ve done is win one hockey game,” Kris Draper said, when asked if the win as easy as it looked. “That’s what we set out to do tonight. We’re happy with the situation we’re in but we know Dallas is going to come right at us in Game 2.”

The Stars will come, playing with all their might to take the series home tied at 1-1.

“They’re going to be better, obviously,” Mike Babcock said. “They had that four-overtime game, and now their legs will be back and the series will be on.”

For how long it’ll be on, remains to be seen. Momentum in playoff hockey can change in an instant; we saw it in round one. But something’s changed since the last time the Wings lost, nearly three week ago in Game 4 to Nashville.

Since that point they’ve outscored three different opponents a combined 30-11. They’re getting contributions from just about everyone, and while they won’t ever say it, they’re making it look, well, easy.