December 27, 2007 - 10:33 AM

ST. LOUIS, Missouri -- The Detroit Red Wings returned to the road Wednesday night, resuming a five-game road trip that was broken up by the Christmas break and picking up a 5-0 win over the St. Louis Blues.

Goalie Chris Osgood made 20 saves to earn his second shutout of the season. It was the 45th of his career.

Nicklas Lidstrom, fresh off of signing a two-year contract extension, scored the game's opening goal just 2:26 in. On a bad line change by the Blues Lidstrom got in behind their defense and stepped into the left faceoff circle for a blast over Manny Legace's shoulder.

Jiri Hudler put Detroit up by a pair 5:01 later. Mikael Samuelsson carried the puck down the right wing and sent it out front to Hudler. His tip shot was blocked but the Czech knocked in the rebound.

Valtteri Filppula scored two quick second period goals, chasing Legace from the crease.

At 5:31, with the Red Wings on a power play, Pavel Datsyuk carried the puck down the right wing into the Blues' zone and faked out defender Christian Backman, sending a pass to the far side of the net for Filppula to tap in.

Just 2:06 later, Samuelsson tied up the puck on the left wing boards and Hudler came in to pick it up. Hudler took it down low and then passed it out to the slot for Filppula to put past Legace.

The former Red Wing was replaced by Hannu Toivonen for the remainder of the game.

Brian Rafalski would score the only goal against Toivonen at 9:11 of the third period, with the Red Wings skating 4-on-3. After passing back and forth with Lidstrom at the top of the circles, Rafalski dropped to the left faceoff dot for a one-timer into the top of the net.

Toivonen stopped 10 of the 11 shots he faced while Legace made 12 stops on 16 Detroit shots.

Two of Detroit's goals came on their three power play chances. St. Louis had five power play opportunities, including one five-on-three.

The Red Wings' road trip continues in Denver on Thursday when they face the Colorado Avalanche.

Notes: Detroit was without forwards Tomas Holmstrom, Henrik Zetterberg, and Kirk Maltby for yet another game.

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User Comments

Posted by YzerFan19 on 12/26/2007 at 8:42 PM

Late start to the GDT 'cause I've been running around.

Osgood gets the start for Detroit, Legace for StL. Homer, Zata and Malts are all still out for the Wings.

And Lidstrom puts the Wings in front early! Woohoo!

Posted by fitch.1918 on 12/26/2007 at 9:00 PM

Put Downy in and let him at Jackman

Posted by fitch.1918 on 12/26/2007 at 9:01 PM

Hey Clark it's cousin Mike...good start to the game!

Posted by YzerFan19 on 12/26/2007 at 9:16 PM

Great start to the game, much better first period than the game in St. Louis last week.

Agreed about sending someone in after Jackman. I said last week that he was going after Datsyuk because the only smaller guy on the Wings (Hudler) wasn't available. This game? He does get his chance to go after Huds. Way to go, tough guy.

Posted by YzerFan19 on 12/26/2007 at 9:41 PM

Franzen gets five for fighting? He never threw a punch!

So, recap: Jackman cross-checks small Czech forward, it makes him a tough guy. Franzen slams said tough guy into the boards, tough guy needs another tough guy to stand up for him. These Blues are an interesting team.

Posted by fitch.1918 on 12/26/2007 at 9:42 PM

Nice hit them where it counts on the scoreboard!!!!!!!

Posted by YzerFan19 on 12/26/2007 at 9:43 PM

Oh my. Oh my. That was a beautiful pass. And Filppula continues his strong play.

Posted by SYfanSD on 12/26/2007 at 9:45 PM

Dr. Fil scores again!!!!!

Note for Skyguy: Call it bad timing, but my nephew started calling him that at the begining of the season because he can't say Fillpula very well.

Posted by YzerFan19 on 12/26/2007 at 9:47 PM

The Doctor is in again!

Posted by fitch.1918 on 12/26/2007 at 9:47 PM

Wow playing very well tonite

Posted by YzerFan19 on 12/26/2007 at 9:51 PM

Time to look out, the Blues have been one of those teams that has no problem getting dirty when they know they can't win. And they really hate Detroit down there.

Posted by SYfanSD on 12/26/2007 at 9:54 PM

The last thing we need is to lose somebody because of dirty play

Posted by SYfanSD on 12/26/2007 at 9:58 PM

That was close!

Posted by YzerFan19 on 12/26/2007 at 10:06 PM

Thanks, Lils.

Posted by SYfanSD on 12/26/2007 at 10:06 PM

Oh hell, five on three

Posted by SYfanSD on 12/26/2007 at 10:07 PM

At least he had positive control of the stick

Posted by SYfanSD on 12/26/2007 at 10:08 PM

Check out the wheels on Dats!

Posted by skyguy52 on 12/26/2007 at 10:19 PM

Dr. Fil scores again!!!!!

Note for Skyguy: Call it bad timing, but my nephew started calling him that at the begining of the season because he can't say Fillpula very well.

Hey SYfanSD .... Ok. You're off the hook ..haha.

Yes FILP (Dr. FIL) is on a roll ... hope he gets the hat trick.

Nice play by the WINGS over all.

Solid play also by the Wizard.

All is clicking well for the WINGED WHEELERS in ST. LOUIS.

Would be nice to see OZZIE get the "0"

I am thankful tonight's game isn't another BRUISER like the last one was between these guys.

Happy Holidays to Everyone!

Posted by skyguy52 on 12/26/2007 at 10:22 PM

Check out the wheels on Dats!

I've been QUITE impressed with PAV's defensive play. His take-aways are quite a show. Couple that with his stick handling and passing and its SECOND TO NONE.

I'm happy for PAVS.

Posted by skyguy52 on 12/26/2007 at 10:40 PM

WINGS up 4 - zip, with about 12 minutes remaining. And all appears well. It appears that the remainder of this game is all about the WINGS dominating puck control and OZZIE holding the shut out.

Hope I didn't JINX anything.

Posted by YzerFan19 on 12/26/2007 at 10:42 PM

Raffy with the rocket shot. Nice to see.

Posted by YzerFan19 on 12/26/2007 at 11:05 PM

Good to see the team hold onto the shutout. Osgood with another solid game. Secondary scoring. Looks like the kind of game Babcock aims for.

And always good to be able to rest players at the end with another game tomorrow night.

Posted by SYfanSD on 12/26/2007 at 11:07 PM

And Dats is tied with Sid the Kid for league lead in Assists!

Posted by Mathieu_Datsyuk132351 on 12/29/2007 at 9:56 PM

I am aware this is late, but this is awesome!

Dr. Fil(as I guess this site is now calling him x]) is my hero. So happy I got his jersey for Christmas!!!!

[Hopefully he will turn into a powerhouse like Datsyuk!]

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