Altercation over, feelings not for Detroit, Dallas

DALLAS – Really, it’s hard to imagine that Chris Osgood is completely correct in his assessment.

“Just a little altercation that’s over with now,” the Detroit goalie insisted Sunday, a day after the Red Wings’ 2-1 victory over the Dallas Stars was marred by an ugly ending.

But don’t expect the fracas to be forgotten.

In the closing seconds of Game 2 of the Western Conference final, Osgood used the handle of his stick to poke Dallas’ Mike Ribeiro, who responded from behind the net with a two-handed stick slash across the goalie’s chest.

“He actually tries to do it. It’s not like he accidentally hit me,” Ribeiro said, defending himself Sunday after not being around for postgame interviews. “He kind of was bent down, raised up and clipped me in the face.”

There was no word Sunday from the NHL about any suspensions resulting from the actions of both players. So it appears that Ribeiro and Osgood will both be on the ice tonight for Game 3 when the best-of-seven series shifts to Dallas with the Red Wings holding a 2-0 lead.

Ribeiro said he was only retaliating.

“If he doesn’t do that, I don’t think I react, I have no reason to do what I did,” Riberio said.

Osgood obviously disagreed, saying, “By no means was I trying to hit him in the face with my stick.”

What can’t be debated is that Dallas is already in a deep hole in its first conference final appearance since 2000. The Stars returned home with 2-0 series leads in each of the first two rounds of this year’s playoffs, but wasn’t able to duplicate that success against the top-seeded Red Wings.

Detroit will be going for a 3-0 series lead and its ninth straight win, which would be the franchise record for a single postseason. It would also be the longest in the NHL since Montreal won 11 in a row on way to winning the 1993 Stanley Cup.

“You’re not going to rattle us. We’ve got too much experience for that,” Detroit’s Darren McCarty said.