After winning three Stanley Cups during a six-year period from 1997-2002, the Detroit Red Wings have been strangely silent in the post-season of late, winning just one playoff series in the past three years.

That may be about to change.

While far from the juggernaut that won in 2002 with Scotty Bowman behind the bench and Dominik Hasek in net, the Wings are flying once again — and having Hasek back between the pipes is a big part of the story.

Hasek entered the weekend second in the league in goals-against average (2.00), third in wins (25) and second in shutouts (six). Hasek has had a far better season than Dallas' Marty Turco, but it'll be Turco joining Vancouver's Roberto Luongo and Calgary's Miikka Kiprusoff at this week's All-Star festivities.

After proving his mettle once again at age 41, Hasek admitted he was disappointed.

"I believe I could have been there, but I didn't make it for whatever reason," he said. "I'll just focus on the rest of the season. There's a lot of hockey left and I want to prove I'm one of the best.

"I didn't come to the Red Wings to play in the All-Star Game."

Detroit GM Ken Holland and coach Mike Babcock probably are relieved Hasek didn't get picked. While the experience certainly is nothing like the Olympics, where Hasek got injured last February while representing the Czech Republic and never regained his form for Ottawa, their emphasis is having him healthy come April, May and, most importantly, June.

"The guys have a lot of confidence when he's in the net," Babcock said.

With Henrik Zetterberg sidelined by injury, the Wings, meanwhile, will be represented only by Nicklas Lidstrom, a far cry from the days four or five players made it. The league's goal to have each team represented proved costly to Pavel Datsyuk, one of the league's more entertaining forwards.

imagine the devastation if hasek gets injured before the play-offs and is out for all of it.