The Stars' second-round opponent won't be determined until the conclusion of Game 7 between San Jose and St. Louis. Should the No. 8-seeded Sharks complete their stunning upset of the Presidents' Trophy-winning Blues, Dallas will play San Jose next in a series that won't begin until Friday, the team was informed by league officials. ABC-TV, which is planning its NHL game of the week telecast for Saturday instead of Sunday, wants Detroit in its showcase game, so the Red Wings will begin their second round on Thursday against either St. Louis or Colorado.

Pardon the Stars for feeling just a little disrespected, though coach Ken Hitchcock was trying hard not to show it after Monday's practice.

"You know, it's amazing," he said. "As much as we won it all last year, I think everybody still associates (the Red Wings) with the top dog status because they've won twice and they've been around it for six or seven years. So it's just something more that this organization and this group of players has to earn the right to be there.

"And we're more than willing to do that. It's going to be really interesting to see. If it happens to be St. Louis (advancing), it's really the dream matchup, the four teams in the conference that everybody wanted to see from Day 1. People are going to look at it as two pretty good series."

But if it's San Jose, in what would be the colossal upset of the first round?

"Then there's some baggage left over from two years ago that will be really interesting," Hitchcock said. He was referring to a play in the opening period of Game 1 of the first round against the visiting Sharks, when defenseman Bryan Marchment rode center Joe Nieuwendyk hard into the boards with what the Stars felt was a cheap shot that wrecked Nieuwendyk's knee, finishing him for the season. Without Nieuwendyk, the playoff MVP last season, the Stars couldn't get past Detroit in the conference finals, enabling the Red Wings to win their second consecutive Cup title with an easy finals sweep of Washington.

But the Stars still don't like the idea of starting Friday if the opponent is San Jose because the Sharks are getting an extra day of rest after a tough, seven-game series.

So let's get this straight, Ken Hitchcock: It's OK for your team to get six full days off to rest the weary and nurse injured players back to health, but you don't want your opponents to have a chance to catch their breath before Round 2. Right?

"Yes, exactly," he said. "That's the advantage you should get when you knock a team out early. But I do recognize what's going on with the league and everything and how the TV stuff works. That's important, but selfishly, and from a competitive side, I'd like to get going right away."

Brett Hull has ended the Stars' past two playoff rounds with the deciding goal.(AP)

So would his players. Guy Carbonneau, the NHL's oldest player at 40, remembers the good old days when teams played every other night with rare exception. The conferences played on alternate nights. The NHL set the schedule, and Canadian and American cable broadcasters adjusted accordingly. ABC's interest in the league has changed the schedule, and Carbonneau worries that it is affecting the competitive balance of the tournament.

"If it takes a team seven games, it should have to start the next round right away, just like it's always been," he said. "If San Jose advances, it should be starting Thursday. It's not our problem if it took them seven games. They shouldn't have an extra day of rest. That's an advantage to them.

"But I guess TV makes the decisions now. It shouldn't matter. There will be eight teams left, and there's not a bad team among them. ABC will get a good game no matter who's playing."

Forgive the American networks. They're new to this hockey thing. Then again, they are doing a fine job on the NBA's endless first round, eh?