Red Wings glide past Stars in opener

Johan Franzen, Brian Rafalski and Tomas Holmstrom scored power-play goals for the Red Wings, who built a big lead in the second period and coasted to a 4-1 win over the Dallas in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals Thursday night in Detroit.

“Our starts have been great, and we’ve played well after that,” 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.

Game 2 is Saturday night at Joe Louis Arena, where Stars goalie Marty Turco is 0-8-2 in his NHL career.

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 – winning seven straight – they’re going to be tough to beat in any rink.

Franzen’s 12th goal extended his team postseason scoring record, and the player known as Mule matched another club mark by finding the net for a fifth straight game.

Gordie Howe pulled off the feat in 1949 and ‘64. Ted Lindsay scored in five consecutive games in 1952.

Franzen has 15 points in the playoffs.

The Red Wings were so dominant in the first two periods it looked as though they had a man advantage in even-strength situations. They also created scoring chances while killing penalties.

“It looked like we lacked a little emotion or jump we had in the other series,” Turco said.

The Stars struggled to skate with Detroit, leading to costly early hooking and holding penalties.

With Detroit enjoying a two-man advantage, Rafalski scored 4:28 into the game.

Detroit showed it could score at even strength, too, when two long passes set up Filppula to flick in a shot.