Detroit disposes of Dallas, gains Cup finals

DALLAS – Dominant in the regular season, superb again in the postseason, the Detroit Red Wings are headed back to the Stanley Cup finals.

With gusto, too.

Just when the Red Wings lost consecutive games and were starting to look vulnerable, they bounced back strong in Game 6 of the Western Conference finals, getting first-period goals from Kris Draper, Pavel Datsyuk and Dallas Drake on their way to knocking out the Dallas Stars 4-1 on Monday night.

Now Detroit goes from worrying about becoming the third team to blow a 3-0 series lead to trying to win its fourth championship in 11 seasons in its 23rd finals appearance. The Red Wings will face the Pittsburgh Penguins. The series opens Saturday at Joe Louis Arena and follows a Saturday-Monday-Wednesday pattern.

“We responded tonight, something everyone in this dressing room should proud of,” Draper said.

Detroit will have home ice advantage because it had more regular-season points – most in the league, in fact. The Red Wings are the first recipient of the Presidents’ Trophy to play for the Cup since they did so in 2002.

As good as Detroit was the first 82 games, the Red Wings were even better for much of the last six weeks. They went nearly a month between losses, winning a franchise-record nine straight playoff games. It was the longest run by any team in 15 years and put them a win away from eliminating the fifth-seeded Stars.

Dallas won Games 4 and 5 by limiting Detroit to a goal each game. The Red Wings exceeded that output in the first period Monday, with all three goals coming on uncontested shots in front of the net. Henrik Zetterberg added a short-handed goal early in the second and the series was all but over then.

“I thought it was a combination of us hoping to win and Detroit pushing the issue to win,” Dallas coach Dave Tippett said. “I think they had a real hard focus around our net.”

Drake and Zetterberg each had a goal and an assist. It was Zetterberg’s 11th goal of the playoffs and Drake’s first.

Red Wings goalie Chris Osgood didn’t have to do much the first two periods, then got busy in the third. He passed all but one test, getting beat by Stephane Robidas during a power play.

Osgood improved to 10-2 this postseason. His 55th playoff victory – 48th for Detroit – passed Hall of Famer Terry Sawchuk for the franchise record.

This will be the first all-American finals since 2003, when New Jersey faced Anaheim.