Stars 1, Red Wings 0

DALLAS -- Dallas Stars goaltender Marty Turco savored a rare win over the Red Wings.

Turco made 28 saves for his 32nd career shutout and second victory in 16 tries against Detroit, and Niklas Hagman scored as the Stars handed the Red Wings their season-high sixth straight loss, 1-0, on Sunday.

Jimmy Howard gets set to glove-save a Dallas shot on goal. He stopped 30 of them in his seventh NHL start. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

"That team's had my number so it was satisfying to beat them," said Turco after registering his 201st victory. "Now I'm focused on evening things up against them."

Turco nudged his record to 2-9-5 against the Red Wings, helping the Stars improve to 9-1 in their last 10 games overall.

"It's not like he's not trying, he's trying his tail off," Dallas coach Dave Tippett said. "But it was good to see him get results. He had saves at the right time. This has to help him get momentum against this team."

Turco preserved his shutout against the Red Wings with 48.8 seconds left, falling on his back to make a sliding stop on Detroit's Kris Draper. Turco also denied Johan Franzen with 34.8 seconds remaining.

"I'm running out of words to describe how Marty is playing," Hagman said. "At the start, middle and definitely the end they had good chances. I don't know how he managed to get some of those saves. We've always had a tough time against Detroit. It was a huge win."

Hagman scored at 3:13 of the third period, notching his career-best 21st of the season and eighth game-winner from a sharp angle to the left of Detroit's third-string goaltender Jimmy Howard.

Howard failed to the control the rebound of Jere Lehtinen's shot, and Hagman lifted the puck over the sprawling Howard, making his first start of the season.

"Lehtinen drove it toward the net and they forgot about me on the back door," Hagman said. "I got a good bounce and it was easy for me to put in."

Howard stopped 30 shots, playing in his seventh career game and getting his fourth career start in place of goalie Chris Osgood.

"We missed by a couple of inches on some of our shots, and Marty played really well," Howard said.

Coach Mike Babcock gave Howard the assignment after Osgood lost his four previous starts and had been replaced by Howard in the previous two games. Dominik Hasek is out with a hip injury.

Howard was fighting the puck early, but the Stars were unable to capitalize.

"The first couple of shots came off him like crazy, but that's just a kid being nervous," Babcock said.

Babcock also switched up his lines in an attempt to spark his struggling team, but the Red Wings fell to 0-5-1 in their last six games.

"We had lots of chances," Detroit's Tomas Holmstrom said. "A loss is a loss. Howard gave us a chance to win but we came up short. It's terrible, what can you say. We have to find a way to get out of this slump."

Dallas began the day 3-10-1 against Detroit over the past four seasons and had lost the first two meetings of this season by a combined score of 7-1.

The Pacific Division-leading Stars improved to 79 points, moving within eight of matching the Red Wings for the league's highest point total.

"It would be tremendous to catch them," Hagman said. "Anything is possible."

Detroit got off to a fast start, collecting the game's first five shots in the opening five minutes. The Red Wings missed a choice scoring opportunity during that early span when Mikael Samuelsson hit the left goal post on a breakaway.

Pavel Datsyuk had another excellent scoring chance for Detroit in the first minute of the second period, flying in alone on Turco, who made a strong stick save. Turco also came up with a sharp glove save on Franzen from close range midway through the second period to keep the game scoreless.

GAME NOTES: Detroit was shut out for the second time this season. The Red Wings were 2-0 losers to the St. Louis Blues on Dec. 31, 2007. ...The Stars remain without D Sergei Zubov (groin, foot) and D Philippe Boucher (shoulder). Both are practicing with the team but there is no timetable for their return. ...D Brian Rafalski (groin), RW Dan Cleary (jaw) and D Niklas Kronwall (clavicle) are out for the Red Wings. Rafalski hopes to play in Monday night's game at Colorado.