DALLAS (AP) -- The Dallas Stars did just what they had to do to keep the defending Stanley Cup champions from getting away with a disastrous home ice sweep.
Bob Bassen, Greg Adams and Guy Carbonneau each scored a goal and Ed Belfour made 27 saves Tuesday night as the energetic Stars rebounded from an opening-game shutout to beat the Detroit Red Wings 3-1 and even the Western Conference finals.
Games 3 and 4 of the best-of-7 series will be played in Detroit on Friday night and Sunday.
"We got physical with them," Dallas defenseman Derian Hatcher said. "That's how we have to win. We have to work and bang. We're not going to out-finesse them for sure. We just have to hit them and take the energy out of their game."
Goals by Adams and Bassen gave the regular season champion Stars a 2-1 lead over the Red Wings through two periods. Carbonneau scored into an empty net with 11 seconds left after Detroit had pulled goalie Chris Osgood.
The acrobatic Belfour took over the game in the third period and made 10 saves, including a pad save on a breakaway by Kirk Maltby at 11:11 after Mike Modano turned the puck over.
"It was very intense from the start," Belfour said. "We wanted to make up for that last game. I think we did. Maltby tried a fancy move on me but I took it away and put the puck in the corner."
Dallas coach Ken Hitchcock said the goal by Bassen gave the Stars hope that good things were in store.
"The feeling on the bench after Bassen's goal was half the guys weren't sure it was a goal," Hitchcock said. "It had started creeping into our heads we couldn't score. From there we felt a lot more comfortable and confident. We needed an ugly goal to fight back into it."
Adams took a pass from Modano and nearly fanned on a 30-foot slap shot from the left circle but just got enough of the puck to beat Osgood between the pads and put Dallas ahead 2-0 at 8:48 of the second period.
"The puck kind of hopped up on me," Adams said. "I was kind of mad at first because I had a clear patch. I just went ahead and shot it. The result was nice."
Detroit finally got to Belfour less than two minutes later when Slava Kozlov scored on a pass from Tomas Holmstrom. Kozlov, scoring his fifth playoff goal, sent the puck between Belfour's legs to temporarily quiet the roaring Reunion Arena crowd of 16,928.
Bassen scored his first playoff goal to put the Stars ahead 1-0 only 5:56 into the game. His chance came after Osgood tried to clear the puck behind his net but Grant Marshall intercepted. Marshall fed Bassen just outside the crease with a perfect centering pass.
"It was big to get the lead on them," Bassen said. "We were firing the puck tonight from all angles."
It was crucial for the Stars to score first. They are 8-1 in the playoffs in games in which they score the first goal.
"We had our chances on the power play," Detroit coach Scotty Bowman said. "This is going to be a low-scoring series. I expected it to be close and it looks like it will be. It seems to be a big advantage to score first."
Detroit right wing Darren McCarty said the Stars wouldn't be denied.
"You have to give them high marks for what they did tonight," he said. "They knew they had to win and they did. We messed up a lot of opportunities and our special teams struggled. But give them some credit."
Detroit had six power-play chances but couldn't convert against Belfour. The Stars had five extra-man opportunities but couldn't score. Osgood blanked the Stars 2-0 Sunday in Game 1, stopping 14 shots. Osgood stopped 20 shots Tuesday night.
"Not a good night," he said. "But we got one game at Reunion Arena anyway."
