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DETROIT – It was going to require something special in order for Marty Turco to put his career-long drought at Joe Louis Arena to bed. He understood that.

On Saturday afternoon, playing as good a game as he has since the four-overtime series clincher against San Jose, Turco made the big saves. But that wasn't all.

Stopping the feared Pavel Datsyuk line wasn't enough. He had to outscore it, too.

Turco handled the puck beautifully all afternoon, turned away 38 of the frantic Red Wings' 39 shots and had the first assist on Joel Lundqvist's winning goal as the Stars stunned Detroit at The Joe, 2-1.

The Stars – and the Western Conference finals – live on.

"There wasn't any better time than now," Turco said, having improved his pro record in this building to 1-9-2.

And he's right. If you're going to finally shed a label, don't do it in an October regular-season game. Do it in Game 5 of the conference finals when the Red Wings fans are planning to celebrate, and there are stories in the local papers about the Penguins-Red Wings Cup Finals starting here Tuesday as long as both teams finish their business.

Consider it unfinished.

Consider the Red Wings – yes, the same Wings who were skating circles around Dallas when the series began – to be a team with self-doubt.

Captain Brenden Morrow knows how the Stars felt two weeks ago when their lead over San Jose shrunk from 3-0 to 3-2.

"We know that doubt starts to creep in," Morrow said. "It's going to be tough in our building to be the away team."

And Morrow said he could tell in warmups that Turco was preparing for a career-changing (possibly series-changing?) game.

"Then once the game started, he was just really confident, reading plays," Morrow said. "He's given us a chance every night. We just haven't always been there for him."

To be honest, Turco set both scoring plays in motion, although he did not get credit for an assist on the first.

In the first period, Turco outraced a Red Wing to a puck in the left circle and bounced it off the wall to Niklas Hagman. He fed Brad Richards, who executed a perfect drop pass to Trevor Daley, and the defenseman beat Chris Osgood from the high slot 9:21 into the first period.

Detroit tied it later in the first, but in the second, Turco caught the Red Wings in a bad line change and sent a long pass up center ice to Joel Lundqvist. The Stars forward had the defense beat, and he scored the game's final goal just 6:04 into the second period.

Turco's stickwork made it happen.

"He was just real aggressive and made some good outlets," Mike Modano said. "He does neutralize a team's forecheck with his ability to move the puck."

Red Wings coach Mike Babcock cited missed opportunities for his team's failure to close out the series, noting they missed the net 19 times, according to his stats.

"I haven't looked at the scoring chances to see just how good his saves were," Babcock said. "But you've got to give the goalie credit."

Even grudgingly like that.

This series is still one more Stars victory away from being even, and that won't come easily Monday night.

But now two important things that favored the Red Wings have been removed.

You can't say that Turco can't lead the Stars to victory at The Joe. He was the game's first star.

And you can't say the Wings are unbeatable here, either. They were 7-0 against Nashville, Colorado and Dallas until Game 5.

Now the Red Wings' road to the Cup Finals – though still readily available to them – isn't as smoothly paved as it appeared to be four days ago when they were up 3-0.

Both teams have lost a home game now. One more slip-up for either team on home ice ends this series.