LAS VEGAS – Though Detroit has used home ice to its advantage early in their first two playoff series, the Dallas Stars have seized it from their opponents.

The Presidents' Trophy-winning Red Wings have held serve in the conference quarterfinals and semifinals, winning Games 1 and 2 at home against the Nashville Predators and Colorado Avalanche, respectively.

The fifth-seeded Stars took the first two games of their quarterfinal series against the Anaheim Ducks at the Honda Center before duplicating the feat in the semifinals against the San Jose Sharks at HP Pavilion.

But capturing the first two contests at Joe Louis Arena probably is too much to ask of Dallas, which lost both of its regular-season visits to Detroit. In fact, much like the Avalanche, the Stars had trouble just scoring goals against a Red Wings team that held a 12-5 scoring advantage en route to winning three of the four meetings.

Colorado tallied just twice in four regular-season losses to Detroit before being swept in the conference semifinals. Dallas' only victory over the Red Wings during the regular season was a tight 1-0 decision.

The key for the Stars in the conference finals will be goaltender Marty Turco.

After exorcising his playoff demons with a fantastic performance in a losing effort against the Vancouver Canucks in the 2007 quarterfinals, Turco has been superb this postseason, posting the league's second-best goals-against average at 1.73. He is fourth in save percentage after two rounds with a .929 mark.

But Turco will constantly hear about his troubles against the Red Wings throughout this series. He is 2-10-5 lifetime against the Wings, and a miserable 0-7-2 in nine games at Joe Louis Arena. He also has a ghastly 3.38 goals-against average and .882 save percentage.

Turco and Dallas' defense must figure out a way to stop Johan Franzen. "The Mule" scored nine of his league-high 11 goals against Colorado in the conference semifinals, matching the entire output by the Avalanche.

Franzen, who has recorded two hat tricks already this postseason, also leads the league with four game-winning goals and is second with 14 points. Franzen has scored 26 goals in his last 26 games dating to March 2.

Detroit’s offensive arsenal also includes Selke Trophy finalists Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk, who each have 13 points. Jiri Hudler has notched nine and Tomas Holmstrom has yet to heat up.

Detroit's defense has allowed 30 shots or more just twice thus far in 10 playoff games, but both instances occurred in its last two contests. However, that did not faze Chris Osgood, as the All-Star goalie has gone 6-0 with a league-best 1.52 GAA and a .937 save percentage since taking the starting job from Dominick Hasek.

The Stars have their share of offensive threats as well. Mike Ribeiro is tied with Franzen - and three others - for second place with 14 points, while captain Brenden Morrow is tied for fourth with Zetterberg in goals with seven. That includes two game-winning overtime tallies.

Detroit leads the league in shots-on-goal (34.4) and is third in scoring at 3.1 GPG. The Red Wings are also the toughest team in the league to score against, allowing just 2.2 goals per game.

Dallas, 22-14-5 in 41 road games this season, is third in the league in penalty killing at 85.4 percent.

May 8, 2008