Red Wings Edge Stars With Konstantinov in Attendance

DETROIT — The “Vladinator” was back in the house. And the Detroit Red Wings were one victory from the Stanley Cup Finals.

With injured defenseman Vladimir Konstantinov watching from a private suite, Vyacheslav Kozlov broke a tie at 11:30 of the third period, lifting the Red Wings to a 3-2 victory over the Dallas Stars on Sunday in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals.

“Kozzie is no surprise,” Detroit forward Nicklas Lidstrom said. “He’s scored a lot of big goals for us in the playoffs over the years. Today was another big one.”

Kirk Maltby and Steve Yzerman also scored for the Red Wings, who took a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. Pat Verbeek and Sergei Zubov scored for the Stars.

The Stars, who are 1-16-2 at Joe Louis Arena since the franchise moved from Minneapolis, will play host to Game 5 on Wednesday night. If a sixth game is necessary, it will be played Friday night in Detroit.

“I know a lot of people think this is a bad building for us, but we’re normally a good road team,” Dallas defenseman Darryl Sydor said. “Right now, we’re not looking at the big picture.

“We’ve got to go out and play one game at a time. You’ve got to win one game before you can win three.”

Konstantinov, whose tough defense played a major role in helping the Red Wings win the Stanley Cup last year, had not watched his teammates play at Joe Louis Arena since the June 13 limousine accident that ended his career. He attended practice Saturday, and watched the team play a game in Florida in early February.

The Red Wings’ organization took steps to insure that his return didn’t have mawkish overtones.

Konstantinov and team massage therapist Sergei Mnatsakanov, injured in the same accident, viewed the game from team owner Mike Ilitch’s suite. Their presence was acknowledged only with an announcement on the public address system, during a timeout with 10:34 left in the first period.

But that was enough to trigger a thunderous 95-second ovation from the sellout crowd of 19,983--one of the loudest in the 19-year history of the building.

“It was very emotional,” Detroit forward Igor Larionov said. “When you hear all those people cheer, those people who love him. I was deeply touched when I saw his picture up on the [scoreboard] screen.”