Jim Reeves 
Stars so much better when Modano plays starring role
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
DALLAS -- Mike Modano was sitting around the house Tuesday night, resting his weary legs, when a surprising thought flickered across his mind.
He wasn't ready, he realized, to quit playing hockey this spring.
Yes, he was bone-tired.
Yes, he was sore and bruised from the pounding his 37-year-old body has taken in three rounds of playoff hockey.
Yes, it was tempting to just say the heck with it and go play golf.
But the feeling just wasn't going away.
He stood up, walked into the bathroom to shave off his playoff beard as the symbol of a fresh start, and began getting mentally ready to beat the Detroit Red Wings.
Mission accomplished.
The Dallas Stars parlayed No. 9's new-found determination, a coach's gamble and a hold-the-line performance by goalie Marty Turco to stave off elimination in the Western Conference Finals with a win-or-go-home 3-1 victory over the Wings on Wednesday night at the AAC.
Not even the fact that first prize for winning was a return trip to Detroit for Game 5 on Saturday afternoon deterred the Stars from finally breaking through with their first victory in this playoff series.
It was Modano, swinging away like the power-hitting, left-handed first baseman the Rangers only wish they had, who finally drove a stake through the Wings' hearts in Game 4, smashing home a one-timer 5 1/2 minutes into the third period to snap a 1-1 tie.
It was sweet justice for Modano, who easily played his best game of the series after being moved from center to wing on the Brad Richards line as coach Dave Tippett made several key adjustments in his lines for this game.
"You hate to get swept," Modano said afterward. "I don't think that's happened in my [playoff] career. It's something you just don't want to have happen, especially at home.
"Four straight is tough, so we thought, let's do what we can. We played our best hockey [of the series] in the third [period]. We finally got some good quality shots in the slot and some good chances that went in for us."
None were prettier than Modano's power-play one-timer. The Stars, playing smart hockey, took advantage of the fact that Wings penalty killer Daniel Cleary had to drop a broken stick and couldn't break up a pass.
Richards astutely got the puck to Sergei Zubov in front of Cleary in the left corner. Zubov cut loose a sizzling pass to Modano, about a dozen feet in front of the Detroit net, and the Stars' veteran caught the puck as flush as Josh Hamilton hits a mediocre fastball, driving it past Wings goalie Chris Osgood before he could even begin to react.
This was a dose of the Wings' own medicine after they had tied the score at 1-1 less than a minute into the third period.
Brenden Morrow followed Modano's tiebreaking goal 10 minutes later with a smooth wrist shot from almost the same spot in the slot and Turco and the Stars survived a long final two minutes that essentially was 6 Wings-on-3 Stars' defenders and Turco after first Morrow, then Modano, took potentially critical late penalties.
After Game 3, Modano had talked about Detroit's "world class players" and I couldn't help but think, "Hey, you used to be one of those, too."
Wednesday night, he reminded all of us that he still can be.
Give Tippett some credit here. He put his top six forwards on two lines -- Modano with Richard and Niklas Hagman; Morrow with Mike Ribeiro and Antti Miettinen. Then he welded together a Kiddie Corps of Toby Petersen, Joel Lundqvist and Loui Eriksson to try to stop Detroit's No. 1 line of Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk and Tomas Holmstrom.
It was speed on speed and a gamble that paid off.
"It was risk/reward," Tippett said. "It wasn't working very well the other way. We tried to get Toby Petersen's speed against them. I thought the line did an excellent job."
Modano then found new life -- and more open ice space -- as Richards' wingman. Relieved of his grinding duties as a centerman, his legs were fresher, stronger.
"I thought all those guys who played a lot of minutes in that last San Jose game -- Modano, Morrow, Ribeiro -- just haven't had their legs," Tippett said. "They've been coming a little more every game and seemed to have a little more jump back tonight."
And when Modano is jumping, everything seems right with the Stars.
"Modano was a force tonight," Steve Ott said. "Something we've needed was for Mike to step up, for all our best players to step up.
"His speed and skill level are huge. He can carry a team on his back, like he has for years now, and tonight he brought a lot of people along with him."
It's what the Stars must have from Modano again Saturday in Detroit if they are to have a chance of bringing the series back to Dallas.
"I talked to him a lot about our expectations for him," Tippett said. "I think Mo loved the opportunity.
"He recognizes the situation and he played well. He needs to continue that. It can't just be in spurts. We need him all the time."
Maybe Tippett needs to remind Modano that only two teams in 153 years of NHL playoff history have ever come back from a 3-0 playoff deficit.
Helping the Stars to become the third would be something very special to have on his career résumé.
revo@star-telegram.com
