SPORTSDAY

The urgency of putting away the Stars might have hit the Red Wings as they were practicing Friday for a Game 5 that they certainly didn't expect or want.

Coach Mike Babcock, who seems to have unbridled confidence in his team, said Detroit would respond the right way.

"We're excited about it. We think we can be way better," said Babcock, who then corrected himself. "Not 'think', we know we can be way better than we were last game. So that's what we have to do.

"I'm not trying to take anything away from Dallas and their effort. But we evaluate what we do. We weren't good enough."

Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom understands the importance of intangibles.

But right now, he feels his team needs goals from more than just the top line led by Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk.

"You can't expect it to happen all the time for you," Lidstrom said, "but you have to find a way to get back to getting goals -- scoring from the other lines, as well, not relying on the top line, but finding some more balanced scoring to back their team off, too."

In the last three games, Zetterberg and Datsyuk has six of the Red Wings eight goals.

Tomas Holmstrom joked that he might have to just start subsiding on Campbell's Soup to lose a few founds off his rear end, the one that negated a goal in Game 4.

Someone suggested that Holmstrom might be developing the most famous backside this size of Jennifer Lopez.

"But does he have it insured like she does?" answered Red Wings teammate Kris Draper in the line of the day.

Tomas Holmstrom and his butt were back in the spotlight Friday.

While the Detroit Red Wings forward clearly wasn't happy with what he viewed as a blown call and undue scrutiny, he plans to continue to do the same thing that has kept him in the league for more than a decade.

"I have to go to the net, do my job around the net," Holmstrom said.

Holmstrom also would like to like to see the crease rule be included in video review.

"I fight for my spot, fight for my space," Holmstrom said. "Sometimes you're in the crease, sometimes you're outside. If you're not sure, why not go upstairs and make the right call?"

His teammates feel that Holmstrom's style may have made him a marked man in the playoffs. "A lot of it is coming on reputation on Homer," forward Kirk Matbly said. "He does a great job and it's unfortunate. I'm not saying he's not guilty sometimes. Sometimes his reputation precedes itself, and I think the call is already made sometimes."

Said captain Nicklas Lidstrom: "I think the referees know who he is and where he is going to be."

Wow, the drama just couldn't get any better.

It appears Bill McCreary will be one of the referees for Game 5 Saturday in Detroit. This would be the same Bill McCreary who Stars captain Brenden Morrow said on his radio show Thursday ``made up'' a call in Game 1 to ``even the score'' with Stars' rookie defenseman Mark Fistric, who apparently did not show the proper amount of respect to McCreary during Game 5 of the Anaheim series.

When asked about a roughing call on Mark Fistric made in Game 1 that handed Detroit a 5-on-3 power play, Morrow responded on his show on KTCK The Ticket:

``That was a very phantom call. I think that was just a little payback for something that happened in the Anaheim series between Fisty and McCreary. That's just my opinion, but I think that's something that was made up. I think there was a little grudge between referee and player where he felt he wanted to even up the score. You never want to see those things.''

Ah, the drama. The only other Stars game McCreary has reffed in these playoffs was Game 5 against Anaheim, and Fistric (a rookie) was whistled for two penalties. He apparently either had words for McCreary or tried to show up the veteran official. Fistric has mono and will not play in the game.

Morrow declined to expand upon his thought process in making the statement, and Stars coach Dave Tippett also declined to comment on the situation. When asked earlier, Stars co-GM Les Jackson and NHL spokesman Frank Brown also declined comment.

As for lines and whatnot, the Stars ran the same lines they used to start Game 4 with Antti Miettinen on the top line with Morrow and Mike Ribeiro. My guess is Steve Ott will plays a lot up there, as he had great success late in Game 4 with that trio.

They also shuffled the D-pairs a lot. I'm wondering if they think that they can't play Trevor Daley and Matt Niskanen on the same pair on the road when Detroit gets to match up who they want against that pair.

My guess, they'll go back to more balanced pairs (or just ride the Grossman-Zubov, Norstrom-Robidas pairs for 30 minutes each).

We could see an incredible battle play out at Joe Louis Arena Saturday afternoon.

As our man on the scene in Detroit Chuck Carlton reports, the Red Wings are determined to push the boundaries of the crease and continue to go to a place where they have had success for years.

Yet, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said on his show on XM Radio that the league is right in calling the letter of the law and NHL Senior VP Mike Murphy said the league was determined to call every play that way.

Detroit found that out courtesy of the Stars. Pittsburgh ran into the same roadblock tonight in Philadelphia, losing 4-2. Nice bit of chippiness at the end, with Ryan Malone tangling with Derian Hatcher.

OK, nothing earth-shattering here and Barry Melrose is a little behind on the Johan Franzen news but it's still a decent reflection of national opinion from ESPN's hockey analyst.

At least Marty Turco continues to have one less crease-crasher to battle.

Detroit forward Johan Franzen, the odds-on Conn Smythe winner after the first two rounds, remains sidelined with "concussion-like symptoms" and will miss Game 5. Red Wings general manager Ken Holland said Thursday that Franzen was still suffering from headaches. He won't play until those subside, he receives medical clearance and goes through a couple of practices.

If this sounds a little like the obligatory Stu Barnes update, it isn't. Franzen had 12 goals in 11 playoff games before the injury.

In the three games since, the Red Wings have become increasingly a one-line team, albeit a really, really good line. Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg have combined for six goals; everybody else two. Eventually, teams find a way to slow one line, which is what has happened with Franzen injured.

Stars captain Brenden Morrow told Bob and Dan of BaD Radio on 1310-AM The Ticket on Thursday afternoon that he indeed played Game 4 on Wednesday at not 100 percent.

Morrow was injured in Game 3 on Monday when he crashed hard into the boards trying to hit Brad Stuart, who moved out of the way just before Morrow was to make contact.

"I got tripped up a little bit on his leg and fell awkward and just had my arm in a vulnerable position I guess," Morrow said during the interview, "and when I landed on it I tried to catch myself and it was a little bit too much momentum, and I gave it a pretty good strain."

Morrow said he injured his left "shoulder and pec."

"[The hit wasn't] as bad as it looked," Morrow said. "It's the Western Conference finals. It would have taken a train on the way home hitting me to keep me out of that game, Game 4. I'm not saying I'm 100 percent, but it looks a lot worse than it is."

Stars captain Brenden Morrow was interviewed Thursday by Bob and Dan of BaD Radio on 1310-AM The Ticket and had a lot to say.

One of the first points Morrow made was to revisit a questionable roughing penalty called on Stars defenseman Mark Fistric in the first period of a 4-1 loss in Game 1 against the Red Wings. Referee Bill McCreary whistled Fistric for the 2-minute minor for roughing Tomas Holmstrom, giving the Red Wings a 5-on-3 power play that they converted into a Brian Rafalski goal nine seconds after getting the two-man advantage to take a quick 1-0 lead.

"That was a very phantom call," Morrow said.

Morrow accused McCreary of a retaliation penalty call on Fistric. Fistric was called for two penalties (roughing and interference) in the Stars' 5-2 loss in Game 5 of their first-round series against Anaheim in a game in which McCreary was one of the referees. Morrow alleged that Fistric, a 21-year-old rookie, wasn't happy with one of the penalties called by McCreary, who first refereed an NHL game in 1984 and refereed his 1,500th NHL game in mid-February, and made it known.

"That [Game 1 penalty against the Red Wings] was just a little payback from something that happened in the Anaheim series between Fisty and McCreary," Morrow said. "That's my own opinion, but I think that was something that was made up. I think there was a little grudge between referee and player. ... You never like to see those things."

In all the excitement of last night, I forgot that the Commish spoke.

We tossed some blazing hot fastballs at him, so get out your latin dictionary and enjoy the transcript:

Pretty much a rest day with very few players skating. It appeared many of the top players didn't even go to the facility today.

News of the day is: Jere Lehtinen (leg), Stu Barnes (concussion-like symptoms) and Philippe Boucher (hip strain) are not ready and will not play in Game 5. They might travel with the team, but Stars coach Dave Tippett said, ``they won't bring their equipment.''

Mark Fistric is out with mono, so my guess is he's done for the season.

Stars coach Dave Tippett said they have to focus on one shift at a time, one game at a time. He said the Stars can start to get into the Red Wings' heads if they do win.

``It's a mental part of the game that, you know, you get one win, the team that gets the win gets the momentum, they get some life, they get some hope,'' Tippett said. ``On the other side, I know from our standpoint against the Sharks, we gave up the one game, then you're coming back, you're not really worried about it till you give up the second, and now you're starting to get, `Uh oh, this is starting to get testy.' That's up to us to put them in that position. We have to use the momentum to our favor, and try to put some doubt in their mind.''

The NHL isn't the only league that uses the ``make-up'' call. It's a tool refs feel can cover for mistakes and can keep things fair.

But the NHL probably corners the market on ``balanced'' officiating, as refs will typically even out power play opportunities, as well as bad calls.

Marty Turco pretty much said that the Holmstrom call in Game 4 was a make-up for the lack of a call in Game 1 when Holmstrom was in Turco's lap and scored a goal.

``Between the one in the first game that was allowed, and the one tonight...probably trade the two, and the series would be different,'' Turco said.

His inference is that not getting that call earlier in the series probably changed the outcome of that game, as well as changed how the series was played. It's an interesting theory.

Red Wings coach Mike Babcock talked around the issue, but pretty much said if you're going to make a ``make-up'' call, do a better job of hiding it than that.

"That's a reputation call totally. It's disappointing," Babcock said. "Sometimes a guy gets tripped and you miss it. Some things go wrong, and you miss it. Just don't make stuff up.''

So, are you OK with the NHL make-up call? Or would you rather the refs just strive for perfection and forget their mistakes?

Daryl Reaugh is on this morning with the Gentle Musers on The Ticket and offered this description of Tomas Holmstrom's ``butt in the crease'' call from Game 4:

``That's the first `booty call' I've seen in the NHL.''

Like all of us, Reaugh said he believes the NHL made the wrong call, and was probably trying to make up for earlier transgressions.