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DALLAS (Ticker) -- The rivalry between the Detroit Red Wings and Dallas Stars has featured many great players and memorable moments, but it was the role players that stepped to the forefront in the latest meeting. Tomas Holmstrom scored twice for the Red Wings before Brenden Morrow knotted the game for the Stars 5:26 into the second period as the Western Conference rivals skated to a 2-2 tie. Detroit's lineup includes 500-goal scorers Brett Hull, Brendan Shanahan and Luc Robitaille to go along with All-Stars Sergei Fedorov, defensemen Chris Chelios and Nicklas Lidstrom. Among Dallas' top players are Mike Modano, Pierre Turgeon and Bill Guerin. On Sunday, those superstars were not a factor in the scoring as the teams battled to their fourth straight tie in the rivalry. "They've been excellent hockey games, every one of them," Stars right wing Scott Young said. "We're pretty equally matched teams. The style of hockey out there has been pretty fun. It's a good tie, but it's surprising that the fourth game also ended up in a tie. It's not like we've been playing a chess game out there." Holmstrom continued his recent resurgence with his eighth goal, just 70 seconds into the contest. Holmstrom surpassed last season's total 2:08 into the second when he deflected defenseman Jason Woolley's wrist shot. "It equates to a playoff game where both coaches play every one on their bench," Red Wings coach Dave Lewis said. "We key on their best players and they key on our best players and it's up to the other guys to come up for us." "Your workers sometimes dictate the outcome of these types of games," Dallas coach Dave Tippett said. "I think both teams were intense, but I don't think you develop a rivalry until the playoffs when you get outcomes. We need outcomes." On his first shift, Holmstrom put the defending Stanley Cup champions ahead 1-0. He took a pass in the slot from Chelios, twisted and lifted a shot that rolled off Dallas goaltender Marty Turco's left arm. "Some nights the fancy plays don't work and you have to rely on the bang-bang plays like tonight," said Holmstrom, who has four goals in his last three games. Following Holmstrom's first goal, the Stars dominated play in the offensive zone but were denied on a series of outstanding saves by Curtis Joseph. Joseph stopped a pair of one-timers by Guerin before using his skate to deny Modano. Before Morrow's 10th goal, Jere Lehtinen scored his 14th goal with just under five minutes remaining in the first. Lehtinen forged a 1-1 tie on a broken play. As Modano streaked through the neutral zone and over the Detroit blue line, he attempted to feed Guerin. But the puck caromed off Detroit winger Darren McCarty's skate to Lehtinen lifted a slap shot from the right circle past Joseph. Lehtinen's tally came moments after Turco denied Fedorov's shorthanded attempt on a partial breakaway. Holmstrom restored Detroit's one-goal cushion on the power play. From the right slot Igor Larionov passed to Woolley, who fired a soft shot that rolled towards Turco and off Holmstrom's stick. Morrow tied the game after Rob DiMaio worked the puck out of the right corner. The Red Wings thought the officials were going to call icing on Lidstrom and were slow to cover the zone. After icing was not called, DiMaio passed to Morrow, who poked in his own rebound past Joseph. Detroit failed to extend its winning streak to five games, but extended its unbeaten streak to eight (5-0-3). Joseph made 26 saves as Detroit extended its unbeaten streak to eight games (5-0-3) and became the first team in the NHL to reach 50 points. Turco turned aside 27 shots but had his winless streak extended to six (0-3-3). |
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