Brenden Morrow's intensity gave Dallas Stars fans a feeling for the team's Western Conference finals frustration against the Detroit Red Wings on Monday night.

Morrow tried to barrel into Detroit defenseman Brad Stuart in the third period, and Stuart simply stepped out of the way, leaving Morrow to charge into the boards and suffer a possible shoulder injury.

The Stars played hard, the Red Wings played smart, and Detroit took a 5-2 victory at American Airlines Center and a 3-0 lead in the best-of-7 series.

Dallas faces the daunting task of trying to become only the third team in NHL history to dig out of such a hole, and the Stars have to do it against what appears to be the best team in the league.

"When you give them opportunities like we did, they're going to make you pay for them," Morrow said. "Are they beatable? Yeah. Do we have to play a lot better than we are? Absolutely."

Are the Stars capable of playing better? That's the tough question.

Dallas did a lot of things better in Game 3 than it had in the first two games of the series. The Stars scored twice, equaling their output from the first two games. They were outshot only 21-18, the closest in the series. They also registered 47 hits, including seven by Morrow, who said he would be ready for Game 4 even though he was holding his left arm straight after Monday's game.

Morrow and his teammates said that while the increased intensity was nice, it also helped the wily Red Wings to some great scoring opportunities. Detroit center Pavel Datsyuk had a hat trick on three shots in transition, and Henrik Zetterberg and Jiri Hudler each scored on breakaways.

"We hung [goalie] Marty [Turco] out to dry," Morrow said.

But Turco didn't come up with the big saves he needed. And the Stars came up short in several other areas.

They had 26 giveaways, several of which led to scoring opportunities. They bobbled chances they had in transition. And they simply tried to answer the Wings' talent with intensity.

"I don't know if we're overmatched," Stars center Brad Richards said. "They're causing us to do things we don't want to do."

The Red Wings, in fact, look at times like they are toying with the Stars. When Nicklas Grossman scored his first career goal to tie the score at 1-1 in the first period, it took Detroit only 37 seconds to regain the lead and suck the air out of American Airlines Center.

When the Stars, trailing 3-2, received a power play in the third period down, Zetterberg scored short-handed to pretty much put away the game – and perhaps the series.

The Stars say they can join the teams that have come back from a 3-0 deficit, but the odds are not good.

"Even though it's 3-0, I don't care what the odds say," defenseman Stephane Robidas said. "You can't give up, You just can't give up."

The Stars say they have to be better as a team.

"You're pretty much expected to play a mistake-free game. Everybody has to be at such a high level," center Mike Modano said when asked if the Stars have to be perfect to beat Detroit. "You fight those feelings. You can't get three games back in one game. It's an uphill task and it's obviously very rare, but it's been done."