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We spend so much time lavishing praise on the Red Wings' powerful offense that we ignore their defense.

Admittedly, that's a big mistake.

You want to know why Brenden Morrow hasn't stamped his name on this series? The Red Wings refuse to let him. The same goes for Mike Ribeiro and Jere Lehtinen before he injured his leg in the first period of Game 2.

The Stars' best line dominated the series against Anaheim and San Jose, combining for 14 goals and 33 points.

In two games against Detroit, the Morrow-Ribeiro-Lehtinen line has generated one goal and two assists. Sorry, three points isn't going to get it done against the NHL's best team.

This is not about character or effort. This is about the Stars finding a way to score more than one goal a game and apply some pressure to Detroit.

One positive the Stars can take from their 2-1 loss in Game 2 is that they had several good scoring opportunities, though they failed to convert them. In Game 1, they had few legitimate scoring opportunities.

Counterpunching is the way to beat the Red Wings. Dallas has to strip their stick-handling forwards in the neutral zone, creating a counterattack.

The Stars did that in Game 2 and even created a 4-on-1 break – personally, I've never seen that before – but the Stars wound up with a weak shot attempt by Steve Ott.

Now, you absolutely have to love Ott's tenacity, but he's not high on my list of players I want shooting in that situation. That's another way of saying when the Stars get those rare opportunities, they must bury them because that's what Detroit always seems to do.

"We had opportunities early in the game. We had three or four from point-blank," Morrow said, "and when you don't get them, it usually comes back to haunt you."

The Red Wings, who allowed the fewest goals in the regular season, make it hard for Morrow to dominate this series because of their style. Morrow likes to bang and set a physical tone.

He does all of the gritty things you want a forward to do, but the Red Wings play a finesse game, neutralizing Morrow's strengths.

"After the series he had against San Jose, he's certainly a guy they're paying attention to," Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "The reality is we have to find a way to win. We have to score."

Of course, that's hard to do because the Red Wings are seemingly always in control of the puck. Add the faceoff domination, and it's easy to see why the Morrow-Ribeiro-Lehtinen line hasn't made a difference.

You can't score when you don't have the puck. In two games, the Stars have only 39 shots, which is not nearly enough to make Detroit goalie Chris Osgood uncomfortable.

In two games, Morrow has one shot, as does Niklas Hagman. Mike Modano has two shots.

Again, that's not good enough. Those guys combined for 80 goals in the regular season.

They're not alone. Ribeiro and Brad Richards have combined for 12 shots but have no goals and one point between them.

The Stars will draw some inspiration from playing on home ice. The question is whether that alone will be enough for Dallas to discover some offensive rhythm.

The Stars won their first two series because they had three quality lines. In this salary-cap era, most teams have only two quality lines.

Detroit, however, can match the Stars' depth. And the Red Wings have more skill.

"They're five strong in the neutral zone," Morrow said. "They're frustrating to play against. As much credit as they get for their offense, they're one of the best defensive teams."

No doubt.