Blackhawks 5, Red Wings 3 DETROIT -- The Chicago Blackhawks couldn’t score on the power play. And they
mustered only one goal at even strength, along with an empty netter.

 WingsCast (Post-Game);  Click to see photos from game

But at the end of the night — even being outshot 42-17 by Detroit — the
scoreboard read Chicago: 5, Detroit: 3.

Keeping score at home? That’s three shorthanded goals. That’s never
happened against Detroit — ever.

In a strange one, Chicago’s Rene Bourque and Patrick Sharp wreaked havoc
on the Detroit’s power play. The Red Wings have now dropped four
straight against the Blackhawks this season, the most since 1985-86.

“I don’t know how you explain it,” Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said.
“When I look at tonight’s game, let’s be honest, we carried the play. We
played pretty well and had every opportunity [to win].”

Bourque started the shorthanded spectacle just over a minute into the
game. Detroit won the faceoff in the Hawks’ zone, but Bourque found the
puck, blew by Brian Rafalski at the point, and beat Dominik Hasek for
the early lead.

Rafalski briefly tied the score for Detroit later in the first, but
Bourque responded on a Wings’ man advantage at 12:49 of the second. A
harmless dump-in to the Detroit zone took a weird bounce off a partition
in the board, and Bourque hit the back of the net before Hasek could
even set up.

But goals from Tomas Holmstrom and Henrik Zetterberg gave Detroit the
lead after two periods.

On the power play, Holmstrom was the benefactor of a Nicklas Lidstrom
point shot and a Henrik Zetterberg deflection. Stuck on the edge of the
paint, Holmstrom stuffed the puck between Nikolai Khabibulin’s pads.

With just 31 seconds left in the middle frame, Pavel Datsyuk put on a
show behind the Blackhawks’ net. Datsyuk skated in from the left side,
but quickly slipped the puck backwards to Zetterberg sneaking in from
the point. It was enough to fool Khabibulin, who didn’t see the puck
until it hit the twine behind him.

“I thought we were taking it to them pretty much the whole [second]
period,” Lidstrom said. “In the third period, we were a little too
passive, waiting to see what they’re going to do instead of continuing
to play how we did in the second.”

Detroit’s 3-2 lead after two periods and complete domination — besides
on its own power play — didn’t last. Sharp took over the Blackhawks’
scoring in the third, adding one at even strength, one shorthanded, and
finished off the hattrick with an empty netter.

In his second game back since returning from a hip injury, Hasek allowed
four goals on 16 shots. He was chased from the net in the last game
against St. Louis after allowing four goals on 12 shots.

“I started to feel like I was doing better,” Hasek said. And then all of
a sudden they score on the rebound, and then a few minutes later the
shorthanded goal.”

Detroit is now winless against Chicago after dominating its Central
Division rival 7-0-1 last season.

“If you play like we did tonight, most every night it’s going to turn
your way,” Babcock said. “A little adversity is not going to kill us,
let’s fight through it. We’ve got a game tomorrow.”

Chris Osgood, whose been out with the flu, will return to the net Sunday
afternoon when Detroit faces Columbus at 5 p.m.