What a game last night.  This regular season game set the table for the type of game we will see in the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs.  The coaching was on top of everything last night; line changes, Mike Babcock and Dave Tippett, Dallas Stars head coach; made sure the emabarassing to many men on the ice calls did not happen.  Mentioning the calls; the refereeing, the linesmen and head official did not have to blow the whistle much.  No faceoffs occurred 10 minuutes of the first period.  The announcers for OLN (Outdoor Life Network) Mike Emerick and John Davidson kept saying that the game had a quick and well played tempo to it. The referrees were looking for the hook, slash and interference infractions last night and they did not have to whistle alot of players and send them to the penalty box. The players were professional last night. The game winged on with goaltending  reflexive skill in net, passing and quality scoring chances were prevalent to make fans clap.

  The first period was all Dallas Stars.  Puck possesion, defense, and making Manny Legace work for his check.  Jason Arnott scored the first goal of the game, sliding on the ice on his belly and he reached with his stick and scooped the puck  to put it past Manny.  The Dallas Stars had more chances and Manny Legace showcased his reflexes for twenty miniutes.

  The second period was more balanced and Marty Turco snared pucks out of the air with his glove hand.  Detroit Red Wings defenseman Cory Cross, not known for a mean streak and fighting attiude dropped the gloves last night against Steve Ott and won it.  Turning up the heat the Red Wings began to take the puck to Marty Turco and Dallas defense was being checked away from postion by Red Wings forwards.  The game was thrilling and fans in every section, row, and seat of "The Joe" stood and cheered as the second intermission began. 

  As Bud Lynch, the public address announcer for the Red Wings for over 50 years, when Gordie Howe and Ted Lindsay played in Detroit announced the beginning of the third period the fans were eager and confident that the Wings players would step it up and deliver the puck on the front porch of Marty Turco.   The Red Wings began the third period with penetrating the neutral zone and eluding the stickchecks of the Dallas Stars. Nick Lidstrom, Chris Chelios, and Niklas Kronwall were delibarate and methodical in the first five minutes of the third period.  Then Niklas Kronwall shot from the blue line and the puck deflected off Johan Franzen putting  the puck past Marty Turco. Andreas Lilja, defenseman for Detroit, converted the passed puck from Henrik Zetterberg from the left face off circle for the second and tying goal.  And then with 44.3 seconds left in this exciting third period Tomas Holmstrom like a paper boy with deft skill knowing the paper will not land in the shrubs, put the puck in the net for the go ahead third goal in the third period.  Niklas Kronwall in a interview with Associated press said, " Our first two periods weren't really good.  And Dallas sat back in the third period and we came on."  That sums up this playoff type regular season game.  With the regular season ending for the Wings tonight against the Nashville Predators those readers who are NHL, Red Wings and other team fans are so ready as the players are for the 2006 Stanley Cup playoffs.  We say,  "Thank God the lockout is over."

Photo of Stanley Cup tour from the Red Wings 2002 win.  In Grand Rapids, the American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate of Detroit Red Wings  the "Grand Rapids Griffins."