Wings 2, Coyotes 0

The Wings shut out the Coyotes 2-0 tonight in Phoenix. It wasn't the most exciting game ever, but it was another win. Manny Legace was largely responsible for the win and is working hard to solidify his position as the #1 goalie in the face of the return of Chris Osgood. First Period The first period had decent flow and some good up-and-down hockey. There were some good chances for both teams but nothing too exciting. The Wings looked a little sloppy on some passing but the Coyotes didn't capitalize on it. Maltby, Draper, Yzerman, Lidstrom, and Chelios started the game. At 1:12, Robert Lang took a long pass from the near boards at the Wings' blueline and broke in on Curtis Joseph. He beat Joseph but sent the puck high and off the cross bar. At 1:58, Denis Gauthier was called for holding and the Wings went on the power play for the first time. They generated some good pressure with both units but were unable to get the puck past Joseph. They only managed one shot on net. Two minutes after the Gauthier penalty expired, Paul Mara went to the box for holding the stick and the Wings went back on the power play. Again, they generated some decent pressure but were unable to convert. With just 20 seconds or so left on the penalty, Holmstrom was called for boarding and we got 19 seconds of 4-on-4 before Phoenix went on the power play. The Wings did a good job killing off the penalty and kept the Coyotes from getting on the board. Immediately after the Coyotes power play, the Wings had some good chances in the Phoenix zone, mostly the work of Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk. Those two look good together, as usual. By 11:30, both teams only had 4 shots, though they had more chances than that number indicates. At 13:40, Shanahan made the check of the game on Gauthier in the near corner of the Wings zone. Gauthier left the game soon afterwards with a hand injury. At 14:59, Henrik Zetterberg had a nice chance near the net off a shot from the blue line. He sent it wide, however. The Wings went to the power play soon after, however, when Keith Ballard was called for holding. The Wings started in the Phoenix zone and had a good set up but Yzerman lost the puck behind the net and it was cleared. Williams got in a good shot on their next sustained effort in the zone but it resulted in a Phoenix break the other way. The chance ended with a broken stick, however, and the Wings made another attempt at their power play. They couldn't get anything going, however, and it was killed off. Immediately after the power play expired, Cleary got a stick on a Shanahan shot but Joseph was there to make the save. Around 17:35, there was a small scare when Manny Legace looked to be hurt after a collision with a Coyotes player. Fortunately, he got up and seemed none the worse for wear. With just over two minutes left, the Coyotes turned the puck over on the near boards at the blue line. Maltby took the puck and cented it to Chelios but it was just behind him and a good chance was missed. Shots were 9-8 Phoenix. Second Period The period started with an early penalty by Derek Morris with an interference call at 0:38. The Wings lost the initial face-off, and were unable to establish control in the Phoenix end for the middle part of the power play. The Wings tried to establish a passing lane behind the net, to get more lateral movement on the man advantage. At 1:48, the Wings had a good chance on CuJo with a Datsyuk pass to Holmstrom on the top of the right circle, but CuJo had a clear lane of vision on the one timer and made the save. At 2:11, Zetterberg scored a pretty power play goal on a backhander after streaking across the crease on a blue-line feed from Woolley. 1-0 Wings. At 2:31, Keith Ballard broke in up the middle, splitting the Wings defense, but Legace was able to make a poke-check save before Ballard was able to get a shot off. At 4:12, Franzen had a huge hit on Oleg Saprykin from behind as he attempted to gain the Wings zone. It was nice to see Franzen make a gritty play and cause Saprykin to turn the puck over in the process. After a few minutes of choppy play, Legace made a huge save at 7:06 with traffic in front. Legace has been solid tonight, especially with the Coyotes crashing the net and going after rebounds. At 11:15, Geoff Sanderson broke in on the left, but Legace came out and was able to cut off the shot angle and make the save. It was a heads up play by Legace that likely prevented a shootout style breakaway chance for Sanderson. With sustained Coyote pressure, Legace made a huge stop on Comrie on the right edge of the crease at 11:43. As traffic built up in front of the net, Datsyuk was caught for holding to prevent a Coyote chance. The Wings had a good penalty kill and were able to pressure Phoenix's neutral zone passes and create turnovers. At 17:40, Shane Doan had a long shot on Legace and hit the crossbar. And at 19:45, Holmstrom was called for holding, caping off a really choppy period of hockey. The Wings never established a good offensive flow in the second, and we were fortunate to get an early power play goal from Zetterberg. Shots in the period were 6-6. Third Period The Coyotes started the period on the power play and set up in the Wings' zone immediately. They got two shots off from the blueline and another one ended up being tipped in on net but Manny made the saves, keeping Phoenix off the board. Just a little over two minutes into the period, the Holmstrom-Datsyuk-Zetteberg line generated some good pressure in the Coyotes' zone but without result. Phoenix went on to get a number of good chances and only Manny's solidness in net kept them from scoring. The Wings seemed listless and though they had the puck in the offensive zone a fair amount, it was doing a lot of pinballing around and was not under control. At 6:43, Geoff Sanderson had a great chance off an odd-man rush with two of his teammates. Manny Legace made a sharp glove save, however, and kept the score 1-0. The Wings went on the powerplay less than a minute later when Sanderson was called for hooking. They got a good setup to begin with and had a good shot or two. Their second and third tries after the puck was cleared generated good pressure as well but Joseph and the Coyotes held them off. After the penalty expired, the Coyotes got some good pressure of their own but to no avail. At this point, play seemed to take place mostly in center ice and the upper offensive zone, with neither team following through fully on offensive chances. At 11:19, Tyson Nash laid a big hit on Schneider in the Wings' defensive zone. That was the second time in two games that a top Wings defenseman has taken a major hit in his own zone (Dustin Brown levelled Lidstrom in LA Thursday night). At 12:07, Cleary had a good chance on Joseph when he took the puck from the far boards in on net. He didn't score but his energy is really impressive. Two minutes later, Pavel Datsyuk scored to make it 2-0. He had taken a pass from Tomas Holmstrom along the far boards, passed it to Nick Lidstrom at the near point and immediately receieved the puck back for a one-timer that beat Joseph just over the shoulder. It was a goal to make his former linemate Brett Hull proud. At 16:28, Steve Yzerman and Kris Draper had a two-on-one but Draper kept the puck and ended up sending it wide on Joseph. With just under two minutes left in the game, Brendan Shanahan made a nice individual effort, splitting the Coyotes defense and getting a solid low shot off on Joseph, who made the save. It was good to see that kind of jump from Shanny and would have been a good goal for the highlight reel. The period essentially ended with the Wings on the powerplay. They took a while to get it set up and once they did, they just got it deep without generating any real chances. Shots for the period were 8-6 Coyotes. The Wings weren't very sharp tonight and will need to work on that as they start to face tougher opponents. Notes Samuelsson's 6-game point streak (extending into last season) ended ... Jason Williams is 2nd in the NHL in assists with 7 ... The Wings have scored just one power play goal in their last 15 tries ... Chris Osgood is no longer feeling pain in his groin. He will head to Grand Rapids this week for a conditioning stint before returning for Detroit as early as the 24th for the game in Columbus ... Manny Legace is now 5-1-2 in his career against Phoenix ... Brett Hull did announce his retirement before the game. It was an emotional press conference, with many of his former teammates present. He appeared on the air with Ken Daniels and Pat Verbeek during the first period and spoke more on his retirement. We'll do some sort of tribute post soon ... The Wings are now 5-1-0 and are still tied with Nashville (who won tonight as well, 4-1 in St. Louis) for division lead ... They will face San Jose at home on Monday night at 7:30 ET Quote of the Game

"I'm still grumpy." -- FSN Detroit road color man Pat Verbeek objecting to being called the "Former Ball of Hate" by announcer Ken Daniels.

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