DETROIT, Michigan -- The Detroit Red Wings jumped out to a 4-0 lead Friday night and held on for a 5-2 win over the visiting Nashville Predators.
The Predators had pulled back to within two goals early in the third period but Henrik Zetterberg scored into the empty net in the game's closing seconds to wrap things up.
Pavel Datsyuk opened the game's scoring 7:44 into the first period. Datsyuk caught up with Nashville defenseman Kevin Klein behind the Predators' net, poked the puck away from him as they wrapped around the side of the goal, then faked out goalie Dan Ellis at the top of the crease before backhanding a shot into the net over Ellis' glove.
Tomas Holmstrom gave the Wings a 2-0 lead with 6:00 remaining in the period on a Detroit power play. Nicklas Lidstrom threw the puck on net from the right wing and it bounced off a Nashville defender to Holmstrom on the far side of a wide open net.
Darren Helm scored just 3:35 into the second period to extend Detroit's lead. He gloved the puck down in the left faceoff circle and cut to the high slot before spinning around and snapping a shot off of Ellis' shoulder and in.
Helm added a shorthanded goal at 9:10 of the middle period. He raced down the left wing to fire a shot that was stopped by Ellis. Helm continued driving to the goal and snatched up the rebound after Ryan Suter couldn't control it, lifting a shot over the sprawling Ellis.
The Predators got on the board 1:44 later, when J.P. Dumont scored on a three-on-one.
Joel Ward made it 4-2 at 3:15 of the third period, blasting a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle past Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard after the Red Wings failed to clear their own zone.
Howard finished the night with 20 saves on 22 Nashville shots. Ellis stopped 27 of Detroit's 31 chances.
Detroit finished the night 1-for-3 on the power play while Nashville was scoreless on four chances with the extra attacker.
Notes: The Red Wings played the game in their road white jerseys... The assist by Lidstrom on Holmstrom's goal was the 800th of his career.
A four-point swing tonight, with Nashville five points up on the Red Wings in the standings. Brett Lebda comes in for Jonathan Ericsson. Jimmy Howard gets another start.
Wings in white, as they should be at home.
Oh my.
It's like he heard them talking about Russia loosing.
Helm taking shooting lessons from Draper.
Highly fortunate deflection. I'll take it.
No goal but really good power play. Even for Williams, despite the broken stick.
Hell of a shot by Helm. Fantastic.
Helm's been hanging out with Datsyuk.
f*ck. Stupid-ass defense leads to stupid-ass goals against.
Holy sh*t, Howie stops the breakaway.
Uh-oh. Defensive breakdowns continue.
Zata fought kinda hard for that ENG. For emphasis, bitch.
Zata fought kinda hard for that ENG. For emphasis, bitch.
Ok...Babcock can stay...for now....(I just have trouble with a coach, any coach, speaking to his team through the media.) What did we think of the lines tonight? I like Bertuzzi better on the 3rd line...I know he's made valuable contributions during this most trying season, but he just seems too slow both on his skates and with his hands to contribute anything to a Zetterberg line...this has to be such a frustrating season for Z. The Helm/Eaves line was alive and well, eh? Good to see....
Ok...Babcock can stay...for now....(I just have trouble with a coach, any coach, speaking to his team through the media.) What did we think of the lines tonight? I like Bertuzzi better on the 3rd line...I know he's made valuable contributions during this most trying season, but he just seems too slow both on his skates and with his hands to contribute anything to a Zetterberg line...this has to be such a frustrating season for Z. The Helm/Eaves line was alive and well, eh? Good to see....
I'd rather see Bertuzzi on the Datsyuk line, they were clicking really well earlier this year. Put Franzen on Zetterberg's line. That said, the lines worked pretty well tonight and I'm a big proponent of going with what works, especially since the Wings don't really have time to experiment right now.
Darren Helm
Credit: Clark Rasmussen
Comment on this Article
You must be logged in to add your comment.