OGT: Detroit vs. Phoenix Mar 7 7:30

[Fraserburn]

Preview
Detroit vs. Phoenix

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VENUE: Joe Louis Arena

GAME: Phoenix Coyotes (28-29-4) at Detroit Red Wings (41-14-5).

TIME: Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. EST.

After helping lead Sweden to the gold medal at the Olympics, Nicklas Lidstrom said he's starting to get the jump back in his legs. The star defenseman proved it in his last game with his best offensive performance of the season.

With the playoffs looming, Lidstrom will look to build on his last effort and help surging Detroit earn a home-and-home sweep of the Phoenix Coyotes when the teams meet at Joe Louis Arena.

Lidstrom had a goal and three assists for his sixth career four-point night in the Red Wings' 7-3 rout of the Coyotes on Saturday.

"I'm starting to feel better," said Lidstrom, who scored the gold medal-winning goal in Sweden's 3-2 win over Finland at the Turin Games. "My legs are starting to feel a lot better."

The 15-year veteran and three-time Stanley Cup winner also was awarded his first career penalty shot, but his wrist shot was easily turned aside by Phoenix's Philippe Sauve.

"He's not going into any shootouts now," quipped Red Wings coach Mike Babcock.

Henrik Zetterberg, an Olympic teammate of Lidstrom's, had two goals Saturday to give him four goals and three assists during a three-game point streak. He needs one goal to reach 30 for the first time.

Detroit has won nine of its last 10 and leads Dallas by four points for the top spot in the Western Conference.

The loss wrapped up a 3-5-2 homestand for the Coyotes, leaving coach Wayne Gretzky disappointed in his team's lack of consistency.

"It's frustrating when you play the way you do the other night (a 6-2 win over Dallas on Thursday), then we don't have the depth of Detroit, so our work ethic has to be more than theirs," he said. "Obviously the first part of the game it wasn't.

"You're only as good as your last shift and we looked liked we were enjoying the fruits of our last victory too much."

Sauve replaced starter Curtis Joseph, who allowed seven goals on 27 shots over two periods. Sauve finished with seven saves.

Shane Doan scored a power-play goal for the Coyotes, and has three goals and three assists during a six-game point streak.

Phoenix has not played on the road since a 5-3 win Jan. 26 at St. Louis. The Coyotes are in 12th place in West, 12 points behind eighth-place Edmonton with 21 games to play.

STANDINGS: Coyotes - 60 points, 5th place, 23 PB, Pacific Division. Red Wings - 87 points, 1st place, Central Division.

TEAM LEADERS: Coyotes - Doan, 20 goals; Ladislav Nagy, 41 assists and 56 points; Sean O'Donnell, 121 PIM. Red Wings - Zetterberg, 29 goals; Pavel Datsyuk, 48 assists and 69 points; Chris Chelios, 94 PIM.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Coyotes - Power play: 18.2 percent (75 for 412), 13th in NHL. Penalty killing: 81.0 percent (312 for 385), 22nd. Red Wings - Power play: 23.4 percent (79 for 338), 1st. Penalty killing: 85.3 percent (297 for 348), 4th.

GOALTENDERS: Coyotes - Joseph (23-17-2, 2 SO, 3.02 GAA); Sauve (3-4-0, 3.26). Red Wings - Manny Legace (26-7-2, 5, 2.10); Chris Osgood (14-5-3, 2, 2.78).

SEASON SERIES: Red Wings, 2-1.

LAST MEETING: Saturday; Red Wings, 7-3. At Glendale, Ariz., Legace made 32 saves and Steve Yzerman scored the winner midway through the second period.

ROAD/HOME RECORDS: Coyotes - 12-14-1 on the road; Red Wings - 20-8-2 at home.

AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service

Copyright 2005-2006, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved

[UncleCliffy]

This should be an easy W. Looking forward for Thursday to see if any moves are made. I read Darcy Tucker possibly being moved here. I'd puke if that happened.

[Fraserburn]

Darcy Tucker Worlds greatest whiner.....solid hockey player most of the time though

[Fraserburn]

hmmm obviously everybody missed this game, but if you said the Coyotes would be a cake walk you were......WRONG

5-2 Final
Datsyuk and Shanny got the goals

and nobody played defense...

[H1Man]

I read somewhere that Shanny got booted from the game. What happened?

[Fraserburn]

Coyotes 5, Red Wings 2
March 7, 2006
CBS SportsLine.com wire reports


DETROIT -- Curtis Joseph thinks the Phoenix Coyotes are still in the Western Conference playoff race.

And they sure looked like a contender Tuesday night in a 5-2 victory over the conference-leading Detroit Red Wings.

"If we play like this more often, I really like our postseason chances," Joseph said. "Every time people start to count us out, we rally and show what kind of team we can be. This win in this building, two games after beating Dallas, absolutely gives us a confidence boost coming down the stretch."

Joseph made 35 saves and Mike Comrie scored twice for Phoenix, which had won only one of its previous six games and is ahead of only three teams in the conference.

Comrie, Boyd Devereaux and Dave Scatchard scored in the first period before Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk had a goal late in the period to make it 3-1.

Brendan Shanahan pulled the Red Wings within a goal early in the second period, but they couldn't rattle their former teammate between the posts -- or get closer.

They were even given a penalty shot with 5:03 left only to see Joseph turn away Mark Mowers' shot.

The Western Conference-leading Red Wings peppered Joseph with shots -- 12 in the first, 15 in the second, 10 in the third -- and hit the post and crossbar.

"We gave them a lot of great chances and Curtis played outstanding," Comrie said.

Detroit's Manny Legace gave up three goals on six shots 14:02 into the game and finished with 19 saves.

"It seemed like there were five guys in front of me the whole time," Legace said.

The Red Wings hurt their comeback hopes in the first half of the third period with two penalties, the second of which led to Comrie's goal that gave Phoenix a 4-2 lead.

Shane Doan went high when Legace went low with 4:09 left in the third, giving the Coyotes another three-goal lead.

"We've got a long way to go, let's be honest," Phoenix coach Wayne Gretzky said. "We know we've got an uphill battle, but nobody's going to quit."

Detroit had lost only one of its previous nine games, with the setback coming in the first game after the Olympic break last week when it didn't have five players from Sweden's gold-medal team.

The Red Wings came up short on their rally against Phoenix, but their first goal came after a milestone assist. Nicklas Lidstrom reached his 600th on Datsyuk's goal, becoming the 14th defensemen in NHL history with that many assists.

"Too bad it didn't happen during a win," he said.

Lidstrom joined teammate Chris Chelios and Boston's Brian Leetch as the three active defensemen with at least 600 assists and became the 68th NHL player to reach the mark.


Notes

The Red Wings honored Lidstrom, Henrik Zetterberg, Tomas Holmstrom, Niklas Kronwall and Mikael Samuelsson before the game for helping Sweden win the gold medal. They also honored bronze medalist Robert Lang of the Czech Republic. ... Phoenix D Derek Morris, who was out with an injured ankle, played for the first time since Dec. 28. ... Joseph and Devereaux are former Red Wings, and Phoenix assistant Barry Smith was on Detroit's coaching staff for 11 seasons. ... Samuelsson is day-to-day with a sore right wrist.

AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service

Copyright 2005-2006, The Associated Press, All Rights Reserved

[Fraserburn]

Scoring Summary
1ST PERIOD
06:50 Mike Comrie (20), Snap Shot - Assists: Dave Scatchard and Paul Mara
09:54 Boyd Devereaux (7), Wrist Shot - Assists: Steve Reinprecht and Shane Doan
14:02 Dave Scatchard (13), Snap Shot - Assists: Boyd Devereaux and Mike Johnson
16:32 Power Play - Pavel Datsyuk (22), Slap Shot - Assists: Mathieu Schneider and Nicklas Lidstrom
2ND PERIOD
02:53 Brendan Shanahan (29), Snap Shot - Assists: Kris Draper and Andreas Lilja
3RD PERIOD
09:05 Power Play - Mike Comrie (21), Slap Shot - Assists: Zbynek Michalek and Shane Doan
15:51 Power Play - Shane Doan (21), Wrist Shot - Assists: Boyd Devereaux and Paul Mara


Penalty Summary
1ST PERIOD
02:56 Scatchard: Interference - 2 min.
07:22 Johnson: Hooking - 2 min.
07:48 Datsyuk: Hooking - 2 min.
14:47 Michalek: Holding - 2 min.
15:53 Gauthier: Hooking - 2 min.
2ND PERIOD
07:03 Gauthier: Hooking - 2 min.
12:58 Lilja: Holding - 2 min.
15:02 Schneider: Holding the stick - 2 min.
3RD PERIOD
04:47 Holmstrom: Holding - 2 min.
07:49 Williams: High sticking - 2 min.
11:29 Sanderson: Hooking - 2 min.
15:02 Schneider: Interference - 2 min.
17:08 Shanahan: Unsportsmanlike Conduct - 2 min.
17:08 Shanahan: Game Misconduct - 10 min.

[Anthony]

Missed the game cuz I was @ school. Dosnt look like I missed much.
I always liked Cujo. I thought he got a real shit deal when he came here.

[Fraserburn]

CuJo has played quite well backstopping a mediocre to poor team and keeping them in the playoff hunt

dont be suprised to see him rented out to Edmonton for their playoff run
and behind that defense they might go far.......the Northwest division is a division to watch in the Playoffs

'cept Nashville OWNS calgary