A run that saw them knock off the defending Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks in round one and follow it up with a second win over the San Jose Sharks, which finished with a thrilling four overtime win at the American Airlines Center. Then there was this series, where the they rallied from a 3-0 deficit to make a series of it before falling 4-1 in Game 6.

"I am definitely proud of this team. Nobody gave us a chance right from the get-go," said coach Dave Tippett. "Winning is hard, but it's the most gratifying thing you can do in our game. And winning in the playoffs, there's nothing like it. I'm very proud of the effort. I mean, the commitment from our whole group was phenomenal. It's frustrating losing, it's disappointing losing. I can honestly look at those guys, start with Brenden Morrow. They left everything they had on the ice, everything."

It was a big step forward for the Stars, who had been bounced from the first round of the playoffs the last three seasons. This year they faced three of the top teams in not just the West, but in the NHL. It was no easy road to the Western Conference Final.

Leading the way was Morrow, who established himself as the heart and soul of this team. Detroit coach Mike Babcock had high praise for the Stars captain.

"Brenden Morrow to me is what you want leading your team," said Babcock.

Morrow played hurt through the entire Detroit series. He had a leg injury to start the series and then had a tear in his shoulder later in the series.

"We came a long way this year, but this wasn't our ultimate goal," said captain Brenden Morrow. "We did make some progress. We put a lot of work into this and want to do it again. This will make us hungrier."

The Stars made a lot of progress. Marty Turco cleared hurdle after hurdle, including getting this team past the first round for the first time since 2003 and beating the Red Wings in Detroit.

"It's really disappointing when you come up short and you know things could have been a lot different," said Turco. "Personally speaking, once you have the feeling you can do something, it's a great feeling."

There were a lot of heroes for the Stars this postseason. The Stars, offensively challenged in last season's playoffs, got plenty of points production from Mike Ribeiro (17 points), Brad Richards (15 points) and Morrow (15 points). Mike Modano provided some big power play goals. Stephane Robidas was outstanding as he helped fill the void on a banged up blue line. Mattias Norstrom was rock solid while playing with a sports hernia. Sergei Zubov returned from a sports hernia and made some key contributions. Steve Ott moved all around the lineup and played well in various roles. Toby Petersen emerged late in the Detroit series to make an impact on a line with Joel Lundqvist and Loui Eriksson. And you could continue to throw out more names.

But the great run ended Monday night when the Detroit Red Wings rolled out was a superb performance at the American Airlines Center. The Red Wings were clicking early, crashed the net and took control of the game with three first period goals.

"I thought it was a combination of us hoping to win and Detroit pushing the issue to win. I think they had a real hard focus around our net early," said Tippett. "The first three goals, right at the crease and in. Once you get trailing, you're chasing the game. That's where we were: chasing the game most of the game."

And the Stars could never catch up. The Stars had their chances on the power play, but the Detroit penalty kill was outstanding. When Henrik Zetterberg scored shorthanded on the Stars' third power play of the game, which came early in the second period, to make it a 4-0 Detroit lead, the Stars' fate seemed to sealed on this night.

The Stars would miss on three more power play chances in the second period. They finally got on in the third, but that ended up being too little, too late. The Stars ended up 3-30 on the power play in the series. Zetterberg, who had two shorthanded goals in the series, almost matched that production singlehanded.

The Stars put up a good fight in the series, rallying from an 0-3 deficit to force a sixth game, but in the end Detroit proved to be a better team. Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk, who also scored Monday, were outstanding in the series. Although he doesn't often get the credit he deserves, Wings goalie Chris Osgood was very good. He was sharp in the third period Monday night when the Stars were pushing hard. He came up with some big stops to keep it a three-goal lead and prevent the Stars from getting any closer. The Red Wings in the game and over the course of the series, proved to be a worthy representative of the Western Conference in the Stanley Cup Final.

"They're a very good hockey team. Let's not kid ourselves," said Tippett. "They were the Presidents' Trophy winner for a reason. I really believe the 82 games you play in regular season, what it does is it earns you the right to be a playoff team, but it reiterates that you're playoff-worthy. When you're at the top of that group, you've obviously done something over those 82 games that has been very good.

"They're a team, I knew going into it, they were going to be a hard, hard opponent. We held out hope that we beat a hard opponent in Anaheim and we beat a hard opponent in San Jose, and we were trying our damndest to beat a hard opponent in Detroit. We came up a little short."

But as a team the Stars made great strides.

"It was a tremendous feeling and opportunity to watch this team grow and accomplish what we have," said Turco. "I can't say that I've seen a bigger learning experience from a team in the last couple months."

And a lot of the pieces of this team are in place for next season, which means things are looking good down the road as well.

• Red Wings crash the net early to score three goals in the first period to take control of the game and quiet the crowd.
   
• With Stars about to go on a short five-on-three power play late in the first period, Brad Winchester takes a roughing penalty to make it only a four-on-three advantage.
   
• Henrik Zetterberg scores on a shorthanded breakaway early in the second period to extend Detroit's lead to 4-0.