In the first period, the Wings were looking at an early power play, and an early opportunity to take the lead against a talented Boston team. Assistant captain
Henrik Zetterberg seized the opportunity. He jumped into the face-off circle, and grabbed the loose puck. In one fluid motion, he rifled a shot past a surprised Tim Thomas to give the Wings the one-goal lead. It was Zetterberg's third goal of the season, and it turned out to be the game-winner.
Goaltender Chris Osgood picked up his 50th career shutout Tuesday night, and he did it in style. The Wings' netminder made 29 saves to get the home win, and 10 of those came in the first period. Osgood made initial saves all night, but he earned the shutout by coming up big with rebound saves. He robbed Marco Sturm twice in the first period on rebound tries, which kept the game tied, and allowed the Wings to grab the lead soon after.
Tomas Holmstrom has quite the scoring touch this season. With his goal tonight, he has eight on the year - good for best on the team. The next closest Red Wing is Zetterberg, with three. Holmstrom made his mark on the contest when he bounced on a loose puck in the second period.
Pavel Datsyuk drove the puck to the net, and Holmstrom fired in the rebound to give the Wings a 2-0 lead. The goal meant that Holmstrom has now scored against every team in the NHL.
Zero-for-three. That's what the Boston power-play units were able to achieve Tuesday night, which might be the biggest reason for the shutout. Credit Osgood, but also the depleted defensive corps, who played without Brian Rafalski and
Jonathan Ericsson.
Here's what Osgood had to say about what his shutout milestone means to him:
"I don't put much merit in shutouts, I don't know why, I never have. The only thing they're good for is that you know you have a great chance of winning a game if you get one. ... I've said numerous times, I just remember watching (Hall-of-Famer) Grant Fuhr play, and it was just about winning games. And that's my mentality - just to win."
With Ericsson and Rafalski out of the line-up, the Wings called up 29-year-old Doug Janik from Grand Rapids. Janik didn't come out and score the game-winning goal, but he did what he needed to do - play solid defense. In 13:56 worth of ice-time, Janik only had one giveaway, and he stayed even on the night. Almost mistake-free hockey means good hockey when it's your first game with a new team.
The Wings welcome Joe Thornton, Dany Heatley, and the San Jose Sharks to JLA Thursday night. Puck drops at 7:30 p.m. EST. Don't miss the action, see it live! For tickets,
click here.
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