Stars discover they can play with anyone

DALLAS -- Captain Brenden Morrow provided a diagram of just why this playoff run has to go down as unmitigated success in spite of Monday's ugly.

His shoulder practically duct-taped into place and playing on what amounts to a good leg, he dragged his team into the West Finals and Game 6 on "want to" alone a few times.

So the prevailing memory of him, or his team, should not be losing 4-1 to the Red Wings on Monday. It is rather how hard they battled just to be there at all.

Especially when facing an 0-3 hole against Detroit.

"He's just become a leader -- on and off the ice -- of this team," Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "He's the guy that will will the other team to quit. He will will his teammates, just challenging them with his work ethic. If he's going to lead and play the way he does, everybody else better jump on the same bandwagon."

You are going to read a whole lot of stuff, this morning and in coming days, about how the Stars deserve to be feted for playing this far into May and for refusing to fold against Detroit, which obviously was just the better team.

Half is bunk.

Because while this Stars team needs to feel very, very proud for this playoffs, what I reject is this, "well, what did you expect, the Red Wings were just exponentially better?" stuff. They are more skilled and this does not necessarily equal better.

And I would argue too many Stars confused the two at the beginning of the West Finals. By the time they really dug into this series and convinced themselves they could win this, the mountain was just too high.

So my hope is on Wednesday, when this team gathers for a final time, Morrow does one more thing. I hope he speaks from his heart even though I know speeches are not his bag.

He needs to tell Nicklas Grossman how impressive watching him develop into a No. 1-pair defenseman was and Brad Richards how he excited he is to see what he can do once he really fits in, and tip his cap to Matty Norstrom for going out as a warrior if this is his final season.

He undoubtedly will spend a while on goalie Marty Turco, noting how gratifying it is that the world now knows what he has been preaching all along: This is the guy who is going to win him a Cup.

At the end, though, Morrow needs to underline the lesson from this West Finals. Especially for the young guys. That never again will he accept them going into a series, with Detroit or anybody else, and thinking the other team is better. This playoffs have proven the Stars can play with anybody.

And while it is hard to ask Morrow for one more thing, he needs to remind them of this. Because they have a good chance of being right back here next season.

Tip, Tip Hooray: While we heap praise upon this Stars team for how extremely hard they battled, let's not forget Tip.

He barely dodged unemployment a year ago.

He deserves a contract extension this off-season. Technically, he received one when GM and GMer came on board but it was more on paper and in guaranteeing money than in reality.

They were waiting, rightfully so, to see what happened in the first round. What Tip did was bring them within two victories of a Stanley Cup Finals berth, despite injuries and youth. And his fingerprints were all over the fighting back from down 0-3 in this series.

He assembled the Toby Petersen line. He remained calm. He believed in his team's gutty-ness.

Knocking the amnesia out of a guy: Mini-Mo has a crusty, bright red, rectangular mark on his face that just so happens to resemble the shaft of a hockey stick, like maybe he had been cross-checked in Game 5 or something.

Wings forward Kris Draper said he did not remember his involvement in this incident. Why do I think Draper is going to remember Monday's cross-check?

Stars defenseman Matt Niskanen leveled him with a nasty, two hander to the blades -- a little late, mind you, since Draper had just scored -- to add insult to his puck to the face. Of course, if Draper returns for his 85th season, look for mini-Mo to refresh Draper's memory himself.

That's an ender: Go Penguins.