Red Wings vs. Stars

Detroit -260 vs. Dallas

The second rematch of the season of last spring’s Western Conference Final will take place in Joe Louis Arena Thursday night as the Detroit Red Wings look to avenge a loss earlier this season to the Dallas Stars.

The rematch is not what is seemed in May. While the Red Wings (27-7-5) are on their usual winning clip, the Stars (17-16-5) have sunk to the bottom of their division. The two rivals sit separated by twenty points in the conference standings.

Detroit is on pace for 124 points but have been winning games in much different ways than it was a year ago and in the Stanley Cup playoffs last spring. A year ago, the Wings have up the league’s fewest goals, at 2.82 per game. But injuries and lackluster play from Chris Osgood has helped balloon that mark and pushed Detroit to the middle of the pack in GAA.

The bright spot in net for the Red Wings has been backup Ty Conklin who has gone 6-1-1 with a 1.86 GAA since December 18th. Conklin became the answer to the future trivia question of being a starting goalie in each of the first three regular-season outdoor hockey games. After beating Chicago 6-4 on New Years Day, the goaltender improved his record to 2-1 outdoors.

Currently the Stars are only one point above last place Los Angeles in the Pacific Division, but a big victory over a good team can turn around their season quite quickly. Despite their troubles this year, Dallas is only four points out of the eighth and final playoff spot.

They have played well of late, going 6-2-1 in their last nine contests, including a shootout victory in Vancouver in their last game Sunday night.

Marty Turco is quite familiar to Joe Louis Arena. He played college hockey just up the road in Ann Arbor for the University of Michigan and regularly took part in CCHA games in Detroit’s hockey venue. Turco has not fared well at Joe Louis Arena since becoming a pro, winning only once, in Game 5 of the conference final. Overall Turco has posted a 3-10-0 record and a 2.78 GAA in his career against Detroit, including a 3-1 home victory on December 12th.

Detroit won the first three games of the Western Conference Final last spring before taking the series in six. The Red Wings took three of the four regular season matchups last year.

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