Wings 5, Blackhawks 2

Detroit goes to 10-1-0

In the first game of three straight, the Detroit Red Wings defeat the Chicago Blackhawks at home, 5-2, to earn their tenth win of the season.

First Period
10:02 minutes into the first period, Chicago Blackhawks rookie Matt Ellison beats Manny Legace off of a rebound by banking it off the far left goalpost. Ellison now has five points in ten games played this season (two goals and three assists). With 7:40ish left in the first period, while the Wings were on a powerplay, Lidstrom took his typical near-the-blueline shot causing a massive rush to get the multiple rebounds. Unfortunately, we couldn't capitalize on the opportunities, but it was a gripping, on the edge of your seats, type of moment. With 28 seconds left in that same powerplay, Mathieu Schneider sent a rocket from close to the blueline to the back of the Blackhawks net. Robert Lang and Mikael Samuelsson both earned an assist for that goal. Captain Steve Yzerman played around three minutes in his first game back from his groin injury. The Wings were outshot, 12-6, by the Blackhawks in the first period. [ Score: 1-1 ]

Second Period
With 12:33 left in the second period, Martin Lapointe brought the puck behind the net, passed it to Jaroslav Spacek at the top of the circle (to the right of Legace), who proceeded to beat Legace to get his second goal of the season. Two minutes and one second later, Pavel Datsyuk brought the puck down the ice, passed it to Henrik Zetterberg, who quickly beat Nikolai Khabibulin to notch the Wings second goal of the game. There were five penalties in this period, three of them against Detroit (Holmstrom/high stick, Rivers/holding, and Williams/hooking). The Wings evenly matched the Blackhawks in shots during the second period with nine shots apiece. [ Score: 2-2 ]

Third Period
11:58 into the last period, Schneider sent another rocket past Khabibulin from pretty much the same spot as his last goal to put Detroit in the lead. Datsyuk and Samuelsson got the assists.

With 5:03 left in the game, Yzerman played the puck down the boards. Khabibulin went to the side of the net to get it and before he could even touch it, the puck just popped up in front of the net where Kris Draper was skating to. Let's just say it was a pretty easy goal to make, the net being wide open and all. It's nice to see the "visor line" being effective. Plus, my two favorite hockey players (of all time) are Yzerman and Draper so I thoroughly enjoyed that goal.

With 1:20 left in the game, Lang brings the puck down center ice and pushes the puck to his right where Brendan Shanahan takes a quick shot to score his seventh of the season. Williams also got in on the action with an assist to earn him his career high in points, and it only took eleven games into the season!

The Wings clearly outshot the Blackhawks, 13-2, in the final period of play. [ Score: 5-2 ]

Notes
Manny Legace made 21 saves to become the first goaltender to win 10 games in October. FSN Detroit had the microphone on Kris Draper for the whole game and they showed clips with sound bites throughout the game. He sounded encouraging and motivating (only constructive criticism). The Wings were 2/5 on the powerplay tonight while Chicago could not capitalize on any of their five powerplay opportunities. With seven straight wins, Detroit continues their franchise best season start.

In non-Hockeytown news, the Pittsburgh Penguins got their first win of the season after beating the Atlanta Thrashers tonight, 7-5. Halfway through the first period, the Penguins were already down by four goals and came from behind to win. Mario Lemieux had two goals and three assists. The Penguins tied a team record for six power play goals in a game. The Thrashers have now lost six games in the past seven. In the past 10 games, they've used five goaltenders.

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