"Just a little altercation that's over with now," the Detroit goalie insisted yesterday, a day after the Red Wings' 2-1 victory over the Dallas Stars was marred by an ugly ending.

Don't expect the fracas to be forgotten.

In the closing seconds of Game 2 of the Western Conference final, Osgood used the handle of his stick to poke Dallas' Mike Ribeiro, who responded from behind the net with a two-handed stick slash across the goalie's chest.

"He actually tried to do it. It's not like he accidentally hit me," Ribeiro said, defending himself yesterday after not being around for postgame interviews. "He kind of was bent down, raised up and clipped me in the face."

There was no word from the NHL about any suspensions resulting from the actions of both players. So it appears Ribeiro and Osgood will be on the ice tonight for Game 3 when the best-of-seven series shifts to Dallas with the Red Wings holding a two-games-to-none lead.

Ribeiro said he was only retaliating. "If he doesn't do that, I don't think I react; I have no reason to do what I did," Ribeiro said.

Osgood obviously disagreed, saying, "By no means was I trying to hit him in the face with my stick."

What can't be debated is that Dallas is already in a deep hole in its first conference final appearance since 2000. The Stars returned home with 2-0 series leads in each of the first two rounds of this year's playoffs, but weren't able to duplicate that success against the top-seeded Red Wings.

Detroit will be going for a 3-0 series lead and its ninth straight win, which would be the franchise record for a single postseason.

"You're not going to rattle us. We've got too much experience for that," Detroit's Darren McCarty said.

The Stars' Mike Modano says his team can't be focused on what happened at the end of Game 2.

"That's probably the most you're going to see of it [Saturday] night, hopefully," Modano said. "They're not a very physical team by any means, but they do play the game. . . . And for us to try to get into some street fight ain't going to work. You have to play the game of hockey and right now, they're doing it better than us."

The Red Wings did so in Game 2 without Johan Franzen, who was scratched from the lineup because of concussion-like symptoms. He's had recurring headaches since early in the previous series, and will miss Game 3 as well.