DET vs DAL

Detroit coach Mike Babcock said he definitely has thought about splitting up Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg to spark better scoring throughout the lineup, and he might do just that in Game 6 Monday.

"Absolutely,'' Babcock said when asked if he was considering the option. "There's always a chance. We've gone both ways [in discussions]. I'm kind of a big believer that good, good players like that, if they haven't scored in a couple of games, they're due.''

Bacock's practice lines seemed to indicate he might start the game with Zetterberg and Datsyuk still playing together with Tomas Holmstrom.

He was throwing out:

Pavel Datsyuk-Henrik Zetterberg-Tomas Holmstrom
Dan Cleary-Valtteri Filppula-Jiri Hudler
Dallas Drake-Kris Draper-Mikael Samuelsson
Darren McCarty-Darren Helm-Kirk Maltby

That would seem to indicate he was going to do his juggling in other areas, as Hudler [who has a surprising 13 points in the playoffs] was moved up to the second line from the fourth, Samuelsson was moved from the second to the third and Maltby was moved from the third to the fourth.

Babcock said he likes Hudler's shooting accuracy right now and believes he could get more scoring chances on a line with Filppula. He also said that Draper and Drake did a great job turning pucks over, and he hopes Samuelsson might be able to better take advantage of that than Maltby.

Dallas, meanwhile, is going with the same lines, but has the option of trying something a little radical. Philippe Boucher, who has been sidelined by two shoulder injuries and a hip injury, skated very well Monday morning, so there is a small chance the Stars go with seven defencemen, as they did earlier in the playoffs.

Rookie Matt Niskanen has been struggling, but Boucher is not 100 per cent healthy, so Stars coach Dave Tippett could bring in Boucher and allow him to work his way up to speed. The Stars have been a three-line team the last two games against the Red Wings, with Krys Barch playing minimal minutes on the fourth line.

Petersen enjoying spotlight

Toby Petersen is not quite John Druce, but he definitely is garnering some of the playoff spotlight. Petersen has yet to tally a point in the playoffs, but for the last two games he has been given the assignment of shutting down the Zetterberg line, and has succeeded.

The 29-year-old journeyman who has had stints in Pittsburgh and Edmonton, joined the Stars roster on March 5 after three seasons with the Iowa Stars, and pretty much finds himself in the lineup only because of the trade deadline deal that sent away Jeff Halpern and Jussi Jokinen, in addition to injuries to Jere Lehtinen and Stu Barnes.

"He's getting an opportunity and he's taking advantage of it,'' Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "That's what the playoffs are about.''

Tippett played in 1990 with Druce, who came out of nowhere to score 14 playoff goals for Washington.

"There's certain players, you've seen it through the history of playoffs, there's certain players that jump up and just for whatever reason they get on a roll and they grab the spotlight and they have an effect on whether it's a series or a whole playoffs,'' Tippett said.

"I had an ex-teammate in Washington, John Druce, had 14 goals out of nowhere. Those things happen. But you're looking for players that can have an impact. Usually, you have the ones that go the whole playoffs, but you have initial impacts here and there, and Toby is having a little more immediate impact, just a situational thing for us right now.''

Petersen has some interesting roots. He was born in Minnesota, is a long-time fan of the franchise and knew Mike Modano when Modano was a 19-year-old rookie with the North Stars. Modano was staying with the Mack family back then and 11-year-old Ryan Mack was on the same youth team as Petersen.

"On occasion, I would go over, hang out with [Ryan], and once in a while the parents would leave and say, 'Mike watch these guys, we'll be back in an hour or whatever.' So that was kind of the extent of it. He would hang out with us and keep us out of trouble.''

Modano also attended some of his youth games.

"He definitely went to some of our games,'' Petersen said. "We always knew when he was coming, so it was a big thrill for us. We knew before the game started, Ryan would say that Mike is going to be here tonight, and we got all excited. We would all try to put our best game on. Then he came out and skated with us one time after the season was over. It was fun.''

Dallas has a strong Game 6 history

The Stars have won two this season to close out series and are 10-4 in Game 6s since the franchise moved from Minnesota to Dallas in 1993. The biggest ever Game 6, of course, was Brett Hull's overtime game-winner over Buffalo that handed the Stars the Stanley Cup in 1999. The second best was Marty Turco's 61-save performance this season to close out San Jose in four overtimes.

"We've had them in the past where we've had to win Game 6s in other team's buildings, come back to win Game 7 at home,'' said center Mike Modano. "But not a lot of those guys are around any more that were part of those games.

"You know, I think as these playoffs have gone on, guys have gotten a lot of confidence. They've gotten some experience being put into battles like that, pushed to the limits physically. That's a good thing to be tested at those early rounds that we had, to put us in a position like this just to win one at home and see what happens.''

Stars hoping to be even more annoying

Dallas was pleased with the fact it felt it cracked the Red Wings' calm exterior in Game 5.

Tomas Holmstrom took a roughing penalty for skating by and clipping Steve Ott while Ott sat on the bench. Kris Draper took a cross-check to the head of Brenden Morrow while no one was looking. And Kirk Maltby seemed intent in tossing the game puck into the stands instead of letting Marty Turco have it, although referee Bill McCreary intervened and made sure Turco got the puck from his first win at Joe Louis Arena.

"We've gotten under their skin a little bit,'' Stars captain Brenden Morrow said. "Those things are frustration penalties. I think that's a lot to do with the way we're competing and playing. When things don't go your way, you start to lose your cool a little. I think we see that a little bit with Detroit.''

History in the making?

If the Stars win Game 6, they would become just the sixth team in 154 chances to take a 3-0 deficit and force a Game 7, and the first since 1975. The New York Rangers (1939) and Detroit Red Wings (1945) ultimately lost in the seventh game against Boston and Toronto, respectively.

The 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs and '75 New York Islanders came back all the way against Detroit and Pittsburgh, respectively.

The '75 Islanders had a chance to pull the trick in two consecutive rounds, but lost Game 7 in the semifinals to the Philadelphia Flyers.