For the Stars, end of chase came up empty

DALLAS -- The long, hot Texas summer came riding in on a Wing and an unanswered prayer Monday.

For two games the Dallas Stars had fought off the inevitable. Their grit, their moxie, their sheer willpower made us believe again in miracles for a fleeting moment.

The improbable dream, though, melted away under a furious first-period Detroit onslaught and the relentless Red Wings, dominating again as they had in the first three games of the series, easily vanquished the Stars 4-1 in Game 6 to wrap up the Western Conference Finals.

This was what I'd expected to see in Game 4, the multi-talented Wings putting a foot on Dallas' throat to crush the life out of them at the first opportunity.

Instead, the Stars refused to fade away quite so easily as that. Somehow they reached back and found something extra, enough to make the Wings sweat a little.

Just not enough.

Now if the Stars could have won this Game 6 and forced a seventh game back at The Joe, we might have really found out what the Wings are made of.

Then again, maybe we figured that out anyway.

The Wings' early-game strategy was as subtle as a sledgehammer to the brain pan and just as effective. They pelted goalie Marty Turco with a barrage of rubber, then crashed the net like famished piranha looking for leftover morsels or a fat, delicious rebound.

The Wings came out flying, determined. The Stars came out looking like a team with the needle on empty.

The Wings looked like they belonged in Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals. The Stars, for the first time since Game 3, looked like they were wondering just exactly what they were doing here.

"I thought it was a combination of us hoping to win and Detroit pushing the issue to win," Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "I thought they had a hard focus around our net in the first period. The first three goals were [scored] right around the crease.

"Once you get trailing, you're chasing the game. That's where we were, chasing the game most of the night."

Maybe it was the Wings' first goal, when the puck caromed off Kris' Draper's face and into the Stars' net 3:45 into the game.

The Stars knew, of course, that every game in the series had been won by the team that scored first.

Or perhaps it was the Wings' power-play goal 8 minutes later, when Nicklas Lidstrom's shot ricocheted off Turco, hit defenseman Nicklas Grossman's skate, then just sat there on a tee until Pavel Datsyuk flicked it over Turco's right shoulder.

If that wasn't enough to stun the Stars, there was another yet to come, when Dallas Drake stuffed another rebound past Turco for 3-0 Wings' lead with less than 4 minutes left in the opening period.

It was difficult to tell who was more shocked, the Stars' players or the sellout crowd, which sat in stunned silence.

Things were so grim at the AAC at that point, the video board operator started hauling out those inspirational movie clips that are usually saved for late third-period rally-starters.

Desperate times, desperate measures.

Didn't help. The Stars were not able to summon the passion and desperation that was required for a Game 6 until the third period, and that was far too late.

"There is no explanation for that," said defenseman Stephane Robidas, who scored the Stars' goal on a third-period power play. "It's too bad we didn't play with that desperation in the first two [periods].

"That's where we gave them the momentum. We had the momentum on our side coming into our building and kind of let it slip away, and they kept on coming. We were on our heels a little bit."

Any thoughts of a Stars' comeback vanished early in the second period, when Henrik Zetterberg intercepted a Brenden Morrow pass at the Detroit blue line during a Dallas power play and undressed Turco for the shorthanded goal at the end of the breakaway.

This is how bad it was for the Stars: All they could do with seven power plays was break even with the Wings at 1-1.

The disappointing loss that ended the Stars' season had Turco more than usually reflective.

"The things we talked about after this game was how close we were, how good we were and how much better we could have been," Turco said. "We know all that we've endured and overcome.

"We just don't like this feeling. We won't forget it."

When the sharpness of the disappointment wears off a bit, the Stars will be able to appreciate just how far they came this season, how much confidence and experience they gained from fighting into the third round of the playoffs.

The night was bleak, but the future looks bright for this team and this organization.

"It was a tremendous feeling and opportunity to watch this team grow and accomplish the things that we have," Turco said. "But really, the first thing that comes to my mind is the things that we could have done and the things that we can do as a team.

"I can't say I've ever seen a bigger learning experience for a team over the last couple of months than I've endured with this team. It's probably the reason why it's hardest to swallow, because we had a belief and it's really disappointing when you come up short and you know that things could have been different. We'll have a lot of time to digest things."

Yep, that's what summers are for, and for the Stars, summer has abruptly arrived. While it might have come later than we had first expected, it's still here a lot sooner than most of us had hoped.