DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings were the best regular-season team in the NHL.

They don't need any help.

But the Stars gave them plenty Thursday night in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals at Joe Louis Arena.

The Stars said over and over coming into this series that they couldn't take penalties against the favored Red Wings. But Dallas came out in the first period and was called for four penalties that led to two power-play goals in the Red Wings' 4-1 victory.

"You can't do it. You can't expect to win. It just took away our life and our momentum," Stars center Brad Richards said. "You don't say that when you're sitting there, but now you look back at the game and that's where the game turned, and they took over and we never really got back in the game after that."

Detroit's first three goals came on the power play. The last of them came on, Tomas Holmstrom's tip-in off a Nicklas Lidstrom shot from the left slot at 6:40 of the second period. That goal came after Stars center Mike Ribeiro was called for hooking Detroit's Dallas Drake.

The Red Wings didn't waste time capitalizing on the Stars' mistakes. When back-to-back penalties early in the first period gave Detroit a 5-on-3 advantage, Brian Rafalski scored for the Red Wings 12 seconds later. Rafalski fired in a rebound of a Lidstrom miss on a shot from the top of the circle that clanged off the right post.

Holmstrom's second-period goal came 26 seconds into the Red Wings' power play.

Captain Brenden Morrow said the Stars "just sort of stood around and watched" too much.

All told, the Stars committed seven penalties. Four were stick penalties – three hooking and one slashing.

"We just didn't move our feet. It's that simple," Morrow said. "A lot of those sticks calls are easy to make. We knew that coming in.

"They're a good puck-possession team. They're going to have the puck the majority of the game, but we need to move our feet and check with our legs. Tonight, too often, we did it with our sticks and were guilty and sent to the penalty box."

The Red Wings' get-it-and-rip-it approach with the puck from the point worked all night. The Stars, meanwhile, were passive on offense. Detroit outshot Dallas, 31-21, and the Stars were 0-for-4 on the power play.

"Special teams are going to be big, and we didn't create much on our power play," Ribeiro said. "Discipline is going to be a factor, and we need to get better at it."