Red Wings 6, Coyotes 3

DETROIT--Revenge was sweet--to say nothing of timely--for the Detroit Red Wings.

Detroit opened defense of its Stanley Cup championship in high gear last night as Joe Kocur scored two goals in the Red Wings' 6-3 win over the Phoenix Coyotes.

The Red Wings also got some payback on an old antagonist: Nikolai Khabibulin.

"Khabibulin has a history of playing this club good," said Kocur, who broke a 41-game scoring drought extending to Dec. 31. "To get a couple of goals on him does me a world of good and maybe hurts his confidence, too."

Detroit, hoping to become the first NHL team in six years to repeat as Cup champion, scored three times in the first 13 minutes and blew it open with three more goals in the second period.

Nicklas Lidstrom, Kocur and Sergei Fedorov scored first-period goals for the Red Wings, who ended 42 years of frustration by capturing the Cup in 1997. Darren McCarty, Kocur and Kirk Maltby scored in the second as the Red Wings chased Khabibulin, the goalie who caused them so much anguish in a first-round series two years ago.

Stars 4, Sharks 1

DALLAS--Dallas lost top regular-season scorer Joe Nieuwendyk to a first-period knee injury, but the Stars recovered to take the opener of their Western Conference playoff series, 41, over the San Jose Sharks last night.

Game 2 is Friday night in Dallas, where San Jose had won four straight regular-season games before Wednesday's defeat.

Nieuwendyk got the Stars' first goal only 2:22 into the game as Dallas scored twice in the opening three minutes. Nieuwendyk took a lead pass from Darryl Sydor, got behind the Sharks' defense for a breakaway and beat Mike Vernon with a wrist shot.

But with 4:02 left in the period, Nieuwendyk was knocked out of the game by San Jose defenseman Bryan Marchment's check. Nieuwendyk's condition will be further evaluated by Stars medical personnel today.