You know things are going bad for the Red Wings when you lose to Marty Turco -- especially so when you're shut out in the process. But that's just what happened Sunday afternoon in Dallas as the Stars sent Detroit to its sixth-straight defeat with a 1-0 final.

The Red Wings put in their best first-period effort during their slide on Sunday, but it went for naught as Pavel Datsyuk and Tomas Kopecky failed on breakaway attempts against Turco. Detroit outshot Dallas 11-9 in the opening period.

The tide seemed to turn in the second period with Dallas getting the majority of changes and outshooting the Red Wings 12-6. Goaltender Jimmy Howard (31 shots, 30 saves), making his first start of the season after filling in for mop-up duty in the Red Wings' last two games after Chris Osgood was pulled, was outstanding.

The only blemish on Howard's strong afternoon was Niklas Hagman's rebound goal from the side of the crease 3:13 into the third period. The goal seemed to deflate the Red Wings as the team had more quality scoring chances on the afternoon but were repeatedly thwarted by the strong neminding of Turco, who finished with 28 saves.

The shutout was the 32nd of Turco's career and only his second career victory against the Red Wings (2-9-5). The victory improved the Stars' record to 9-1 in its last 10 games and closed the gap for first place in the Western Conference to just eight points.

That's a surprising figure when you take into account the Red Wings led the conference by nearly 20 points just a few weeks ago.

The road doesn't get easier for the Red Wings as they head to Denver to face the Avalanche Monday night before a thee-game jaunt through Western Canada over the weekend that culminates in Edmonton on trade deadline day.