By Larry Lage
Associated Press
DETROIT ó Johan Franzen, Brian Rafalski and Tomas Holmstrom scored power-play goals for the Detroit Red Wings, who built a big lead in the second period and coasted to a 4-1 win against the Dallas Stars in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals on Thursday night.
iOur starts have been great, and weíve played well after that,î goalie Chris Osgood said.
After Valtteri Filppula put the top-seeded Red Wings ahead 4-0, Brenden Morrow scored with a minute left in the second period to prevent the fifth-seeded Stars from getting shut out.
iWe had a good two or three shifts to start the game,î Morrow said. iBut then the ice got tilted the other way.î
Game 2 is Saturday night at Joe Louis Arena, where Stars goalie Marty Turco is 0-8-2 in his NHL career.
iThereís no question by the next game theyíll be back and rolling,î Detroit coach Mike Babcock said.
Turco made 27 saves, and Osgood turned away 20 shots.
Dallas upset the defending Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks in the first round and then topped the second-seeded San Jose Sharks after starting both series with two road wins.
The way the Franzen-led Red Wings are playing ó winning seven straight ó theyíre going to be tough to beat in any rink.
iIím not worried about how the Red Wings played. Iím worried about how we played,î Dallas coach Dave Tippett said. iThatís a game that wasnít even close to the games we played in the playoffs.î