Wings 6, Isles 0

Manny Legace makes one of his 30 saves for the Wings in last night's shut out win over the New York Islanders The Wings skated to another easy win last night, shutting out the New York Islanders 6-0. The Isles hardly put up a fight all night and made it very easy for the Wings. It was about as good a game as I've seen the Wings play all year, though there wasn't much competition. They were very efficient offensively and fairly tight defensively, though they were outshot 30-27. Manny Legace got the start after all for the Wings. He earned his first shutout of the year and the fourth of his career. He wasn't really tested too often but made key saves when he had to. Pavel Datsyuk had a great night. His assist on Thomas' first goal was amazing as was his set up to Brett Hull for Hull's goal. It's kinda cheap that Chelios gets credit for the Wings' fourth goal when Pavel had the presence of mind to scoop up the loose puck and roof it but that's how it goes, I guess. Steve Thomas also had a great night. He scored the Wings' first two goals, the second unassisted and after stealing the puck in the offensive zone. He came very close to getting a hat trick a couple times and I was pretty disappointed when he didn't get it. He's looking to be a great addition to the Wings, that's for sure. Shanahan and Draper, who are both on a scoring tear, scored the other Wings goals. Nathan Robinson was called up from the Griffins to replace Tomas Holmstrom. He wore #38 and impressed me with his good passes and decent puck control. He certainly did nothing to hurt the Wings and played a very steady first NHL game. He had a semi-breakaway in the third period but was hauled down as he neared the net. It was a situation where I would have like to have seen a penalty shot but the current rules require the player to be a step ahead, which Robinson was not. I wish the league would loosen the rule up, though. Why not have more penalty shots? It's too bad for Darryl Bootland that last night was the only time the Wings play the Islanders this year because he'll have to wait until next season to have his revenge on Eric Cairns. Bootland and Cairns had been talking trash and taking little shots at each other all night. Cairns finally lost it in the second period when Bootland went in to defend Jason Williams who had gone in to defend Mathieu Dandenault who had been run into the boards from behind by Jason Blake. Cairns came up behind Bootland and started beating the back of his head. Bootland was tied up with another Isles player and couldn't do anything to defend himself. Cairns got two minutes for roughing, another two minutes for roughing, a game misconduct (for starting a fight when another was already going on) and a ten minute misconduct. Bootland got two minutes for roughing Cairns and robbed of his chance to get back at that goon. The Wings needed a win last night and they got it. They put forth a decent effort and made it a good game to watch. They are now 13-9-2-0 and tied with the Blues, who tied the Lightning 2-2 last night, for first place in the Central Division. The Wings have won two blow-outs in a row, albeit against lesser teams, and should have a lot of momentum going into tonight's game injures or not. Next up: vs. St. Louis, tonight, 8:00 EST Freep | ESPN | Box Score Lines- Shanahan-Yzerman-Devereaux Thomas-Datsyuk-Hull Maltby-Draper-Mowers Robinson-Williams-Bootland Maltby-Draper-Devereaux Lidstrom-Schneider Fischer-Dandenault Woolley-Chelios Schneider-Chelios Schneider-Dandenault Woolley-Dandenault Lidstrom-Dandenault Fischer-Schneider 4 on 4- Williams-Devereaux Fischer-Woolley PP- Shanahan-Yzerman-Draper Thomas-Datsyuk-Hull Shanahan-Yzerman-Devereaux Lidstrom-Schneider Woolley-Chelios PK- Draper-Maltby Shanahan-Yzerman Datsyuk-Hull Lidstrom-Schneider Fischer-Dandenault Lidstrom-Chelios Net- Manny Legace