Wednesday June 3 7:30pm
The Detroit Red Wings can secure a spot in the Stanley Cup Finals for the second straight year tonight with a win over the Dallas Stars in Game Five of the Western Conference finals.
Vyacheslav Kozlov scored on a deflection with 8:30 remaining and the Red Wings moved within one win of returning to the finals with a 3-2 victory over the Stars in Sunday's Game Four.
Detroit, which is bidding to become the first repeat champions since the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1991-92, had won six straight road games in the playoffs before losing Game Two in Dallas. The Wings are 6-2 overall on the road in the postseason.
A win tonight would put Detroit in the finals for the third time in four years.
To make matters worse for the Stars, they will likely be without two regular defensemen tonight. Shawn Chambers suffered a sprained knee in Game Three and will not play tonight. Richard Matvichuk sustained a strained right shoulder on Sunday and is doubtful for tonight.
Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman leads all playoff scorers with 15 assists and 19 points. Sergei Fedorov is second with 16 points and defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom is third with 15.
Detroit is 3-for-23 on the power play during this series and 16-for-105 (15.2 percent) in the playoffs.
Mike Modano leads Dallas with just 13 points and Sergei Zubov is second with eight. However, Modano has been held to just one goal and three assists in his last eight games.
The Stars are 1-for-22 on the power play in this series and a dismal 10-for-92 (10.9 percent) overall.
Should Dallas avoid elimination tonight, Game Six would be Friday in Detroit.
