Detroit Red Wings DetroitRedWings.com presented by AT&T Detroit Red Wings presented by Amway
Stay Connected to the Detroit Red Wings
Email Updates App Text/SMS Updates Twitter Facebook Red Wings TV RSS Feeds
 

Thrashers 5, Red Wings 1
Lindsey Ungar  - DetroitRedWings.com Special Writer
DETROIT — It hasn’t happened all season.

He had an off night.

Named to the All-Star game last week, Red Wings goalie Chris Osgood had a less-than-stellar outing against the Atlanta Thrashers, yielding four goals on 17 shots. The Joe Louis Arena crowd cheered as Osgood made the lonely skate to the Red Wings' bench in favor of Dominik Hasek.

Even Hasek didn’t seem to believe it.

“I went to him after three (goals), wasn’t ready, and he had ample warning and time to get ready,” Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. “I gave him the opportunity to get ready, get stretched — it wasn’t like a sudden thing.”
WINGS CORNER
Sidebar: League's leading scorer draws attention
Photo Gallery

 WingsCast (Post-Game)  
Babcock
Hasek
Osgood 

Said Hasek: “It’s been a long time since I jumped into the game in the second or third period.”

Babcock has only pulled a netminder (Hasek) once all season, a 4-3 loss to St. Louis on November 13.

“Obviously, I wasn’t happy,” Babcock said. “He (Osgood) would have finished the game if I was happy.”

Atlanta’s Marian Hossa wrecked havoc on Osgood, completing his seventh-career hat trick before the game was half old. The Thrashers went on to win 5-1, leaping from outside of the Eastern Conference playoff picture into first place in the Southeast Division.

Seven minutes into the game, Hossa wrestled the puck out of the corner on the power play and skated untouched past defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom en route to the net. Hossa outwaited Osgood, who dropped and allowed Hossa’s snapshot goal.

On his second, Hossa caught Brett Lebda fumbling the puck at the Wings' blueline. Hossa’s wrister from the left faceoff circle eluded Osgood’s catching glove for the 2-0 lead at 14:22 of the first.

Hossa completed the magic just over a minute into the second period. With six seconds left in an Atlanta power play, Hossa -- locked between four Red Wings -- found the top shelf.
Andreas Lilja (3) tries to keep the puck away from Marian Hossa, who scored a natural hat trick Tuesday night. (AP Photo/Jerry S. Mendoza)


Atlanta center Eric Perrin stretched the lead to 4-0, poking a loose puck past Osgood on a power play at 7:14 of the second. That was the end for Osgood.

But as unusual as the Osgood off night was the Red Wings’ offensive goose egg. Detroit had only been shut out one other time this season, a 2-0 blanking on New Year’s Eve against St. Louis.

After Hasek relieved Osgood, the Wings held the Thrashers shot-less for the remainder of the second period, while peppering goalie Kari Lehtonen with 19 shots of their own. Lehtonen didn’t flinch, and the score remained 4-0 through two periods.

Even leading-scorer Henrik Zetterberg couldn’t corral the puck while staring at an empty net midway through the third. Lehtonen stopped Zetterberg on a spectacular left pad save with just over six minutes left before Niklas Kronwall broke the shutout. Lehtonen stopped 46 shots.

Former Red Wings' forward Slava Kozlov tipped a shot past Hasek — a player he was once traded for — to settle the score at 5-1 with a minute left in the game.

“The key is to make sure we don’t elongate this thing,” Osgood said. “We don’t want start thinking about the bad bounces and think that they’ll happen.”

GAME NOTES: It was the Red Wings’ second straight loss to an Eastern Conference foe after losing 3-2 to Ottawa on Saturday … Detroit is now winless in three for only the second time this season, dating back to mid-November ... Detroit’s penalty kill, ranked fifth in the NHL, allowed three power play goals for only the second time this season.




Three star selections
1st:   MARIAN HOSSA
2nd:   KARI LEHTONEN
3rd:   TOBIAS ENSTROM
Winning Goaltender
Kari Lehtonen

Losing Goaltender
Chris Osgood

SCHEDULE

HOME
AWAY
PROMOTIONAL

STANDINGS

WESTERN CONFERENCE
  TEAM GP W L OT GF GA PTS
1 p - CHI 48 36 7 5 155 102 77
2 y - ANA 48 30 12 6 140 118 66
3 y - VAN 48 26 15 7 127 121 59
4 x - STL 48 29 17 2 129 115 60
5 x - LAK 48 27 16 5 133 118 59
6 x - SJS 48 25 16 7 124 116 57
7 x - DET 48 24 16 8 124 115 56
8 x - MIN 48 26 19 3 122 127 55
9 CBJ 48 24 17 7 120 119 55
10 PHX 48 21 18 9 125 131 51
11 DAL 48 22 22 4 130 142 48
12 EDM 48 19 22 7 125 134 45
13 CGY 48 19 25 4 128 160 42
14 NSH 48 16 23 9 111 139 41
15 COL 48 16 25 7 116 152 39

STATS

2012-2013 PLAYOFFS
SKATERS: GP G A +/- Pts
H. Zetterberg 14 4 8 3 12
D. Cleary 14 4 6 -1 10
D. Brunner 14 5 4 2 9
P. Datsyuk 14 3 6 2 9
J. Franzen 14 4 2 -7 6
V. Filppula 14 2 4 -4 6
B. Smith 14 2 3 -3 5
G. Nyquist 14 2 3 3 5
J. Kindl 14 1 4 4 5
J. Andersson 14 1 4 2 5
 
GOALIES: W L OT Sv% GAA
J. Howard 7 7 2 .924 2.44

DetroitRedWings.com is the official Web site of the Detroit Red Wings. Detroit Red Wings and DetroitRedWings.com are trademarks of the Detroit Red Wings. NHL, the NHL Shield and the word mark NHL Winter Classic are registered trademarks and Original Six is a trademark of the National Hockey League. All NHL logos and marks and NHL team logos and marks as well as all other proprietary materials depicted herein are the property of the NHL and the respective NHL teams and may not be reproduced without the prior written consent of NHL Enterprises, L.P. Copyright © 1999-2013 Detroit Red Wings and the National Hockey League. All Rights Reserved.
© NHL 2013. All Rights Reserved.

 
Advertise/SponsorshipsOlympia Entertainment | Code of Conduct | Privacy Policy | AdChoices | Employment | Contact Us | NHL.com Terms of Use | Site Map