PA SPORTSTICKER NHL PLAYOFF PREVIEW
          (DALLAS-DETROIT)



*Osgood, Red Wings look to extend series lead*
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Dallas at Detroit                                  7:00 pm EDT
Western Conference finals                  Red Wings lead, 1-0


DETROIT (Ticker) - Chris Osgood and the Detroit Red Wings will
seek their eighth consecutive victory when they host the Dallas
Stars on Saturday in Game Two of the Western Conference finals.


The Red Wings have not lost this postseason since replacing
six-time Vezina Trophy winner Dominik Hasek with Osgood before
Game Five of their conference quarterfinal series against the
Nashville Predators.


A two-time Stanley Cup winner, Osgood has posted a 7-0 record
with a 1.46 goals-against average and .939 save percentage
during the impressive run.


Osgood made 20 saves Thursday as the top-seeded Red Wings
cruised to a 4-1 victory over the fifth-seeded Stars in Game
One.


Johan Franzen, defenseman Brian Rafalski and Tomas Holmstrom
scored power-play goals for Detroit, which owns a
one-game-to-none advantage in the best-of-seven series.


Franzen is quickly becoming one of the most feared offensive
weapons in the NHL this postseason.  The 28-year-old Swede, who
notched 27 goals during the regular season, has 12 tallies in 11
playoff games - scoring in each of the previous five contests.


The goal was the 27th in the last 27 games dating to March 2 for
Franzen, who tallied nine times in Detroit's four-game sweep of
the Colorado Avalanche in the conference semifinals.


It also pulled him even with New York Rangers captain Jaromir
Jagr for the playoff scoring lead with 15 points.


"He's a good hockey player," Babcock said.  "He's a big, big guy
and he's strong and he's got great hands.  He was in front of
Turco tonight.  I thought we did a good job of that tonight
early."


Franzen's goal also proved to be the game-winner, his
league-leading fifth of the postseason and fourth in five
contests.  With the five game-winning goals, Franzen now holds
the franchise record for the most in one postseason.


Captain Nicklas Lidstrom and fellow blue-liner Niklas Kronwall
each recorded a pair of assists for the Red Wings, who went
3-for-7 on the power play.


"Our power play has capitalized on our chances," Lidstrom said.
"That's something we wanted to do as well, but we wanted a good,
strong start, and the power play really helped us."


Captain Brenden Morrow scored and Marty Turco stopped 27 shots
for Dallas, which lost all three of their previous postseason
meetings with Detroit.