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When the Dallas Stars last ventured into the second round five years ago, it was with a different goaltender.

He had the same name, but Marty Turco of 2003 was vastly different from the Marty Turco of 2008.

That Turco was 27 years old, fresh off a record-setting season. In his first year as the regular Dallas goalie replacing Ed Belfour, Turco set a modern NHL record with a 1.72 goals-against average.

That Turco was athletic, he was cocky ... and he was not really ready to win in the playoffs.

Dallas knocked off Edmonton in the first round in 2003, but that was pretty much an annual event for the Stars after losing to the Oilers in 1997. Being better than Tommy Salo in the nets was not that great an accomplishment.

In the second round, Turco was outplayed by Anaheim's Jean-Sebastien Giguere. The Ducks won both overtime games. They won three times when their last shot on goal got past Turco.

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Second round: Stars vs. Sharks
Game 1: 9 p.m. Fri. in San Jose

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That was just the beginning of Turco's playoff struggles. In fact, he didn't really get that much of the blame for the Anaheim series because Giguere had simply been so good. Giguere was on his way to winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Stanley Cup playoffs' most valuable player, even though the Ducks ultimately lost Game 7 of the Finals to New Jersey.

It was when Turco surrendered soft goals the next two seasons – as Dallas lost a pair of 4-1 series to a Colorado team that was not that good – that the doubts surfaced.

That's when Turco changed.

He changed his attitude. He changed his work and practice habits. He changed his eating habits.

The 32-year-old Turco who will face San Jose in Game 1 tonight is a mentally stronger player, more equipped to deal with the rapid ups and downs of the NHL playoffs.

Turco was very good in the first round, easily outplaying Giguere this time. Of the playoffs’ regular goaltenders, only Pittsburgh’s Marc-Andre Fleury and Colorado’s Jose Theodore had better numbers in the opening round than Turco’s 2.01 goals-against average and .912 save percentage.

Turco gives the Stars a chance to beat the Sharks, although it would be wrong to say he gives them the advantage.

San Jose's Evgeni Nabokov was the league's best goalie in the regular season. Carrying a massive workload of 77 games played, Nabokov had a 2.14 goals-against average and .910 save percentage. He was extremely solid late in the season when the Sharks got at least one point in 20 consecutive games.

That was the streak that sent the Sharks sailing past the Stars in the Pacific Division standings. It's why this series begins on San Jose's home ice.

That's no longer such a scary proposition for the Stars and for Turco. They won the first two games in Anaheim to take control of that series and never let go. They have confidence they can do the same to San Jose.

In the Western Conference, this series is really the matchup of elite goaltenders, even though Detroit and Colorado have a more historic postseason rivalry and have had greater recent Stanley Cup success.

For Detroit, Chris Osgood has replaced Dominik Hasek in goal. For the Avalanche, Jose Theodore has been really up and down the last three seasons.

That series is more likely to be determined by the skaters.

This series should go to which one of the league's top goaltenders can repeatedly meet the challenges presented.

Having a goalie decide playoff games was a scary thing for the Stars for a few years.

But it wasn't when Belfour was their goalie. The team had confidence he would rise up when most needed. Two conference finals wins over Colorado and Patrick Roy built that confidence.

The confidence has returned with Turco. He was their best player last year when he shut out Vancouver three times in a seven-game series defeat.

He was just as solid the last two weeks against the Ducks. If that continues, then Stars fans can start thinking about the team's first trip to a conference finals in eight long years.