Oct 30, 2009 - 1:52 PM
0 shoutsBy SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN STATS Senior Writer
Detroit (4-4-3) at Calgary (7-3-1), 10:00 p.m. EDT
The Detroit Red Wings suffered a blow to their lineup in their last game. Their goaltending has also suffered in the Canadian portion of this five-game road trip.
The Red Wings will be without emerging center Valtteri Filppula on Saturday night when they finish their trip against the Calgary Flames.
Detroit (4-4-3) lost Filppula for six to eight weeks due to a broken wrist suffered in Thursday's 6-5 shootout loss at Edmonton. Filppula had all six of his points in the last eight games.
"It's a huge loss," teammate Patrick Eaves told NHL.com.
The Red Wings rallied from a 5-1 deficit Thursday, scoring three times in the third period to gain a point. One of the goals was scored by Todd Bertuzzi, who had 44 points last season for Calgary (7-3-1) .
"It was very important for our team to battle back the way we did and show that kind of grit and determination," coach Mike Babcock said. "As a coach you have to question what they were doing at the start of the game. Overall, we shot ourselves in the foot there. But we challenged our team to respond and they did. It was a real good point from where we began with that terrible start."
Backup goaltender Jimmy Howard made 28 saves Thursday after relieving Chris Osgood in Tuesday's 5-4 victory at Vancouver. Osgood was pulled after he gave up two goals on four shots in the first 7:05.
Osgood is 3-2-2 with a 3.40 goals-against average in eight games this season after going 5-2-1 with a 3.21 GAA in his first eight in 2008-09. The veteran had a 2.01 GAA in between in the postseason for the Western Conference champions.
Osgood and the Red Wings have done a good job of slowing down Calgary star Jarome Iginla, who has failed to score a goal in his last 17 games against Detroit. Iginla has eight assists in that span.
Calgary had its three-game win streak snapped Wednesday with a 3-2 loss to Colorado. The Flames blew a two-goal lead and didn't take advantage of a 32-14 edge in shots.
"We lost the game and it's disappointing," coach Brent Sutter said. "We didn't give them a whole lot the last two periods. I mean it was 14 shots total."
Iginla and Olli Jokinen scored 1:10 into Wednesday's defeat, but that was all Calgary mustered.
"We weren't as sharp as we should have been after that first minute, we realize that," Iginla said. "They also played a good road game. They didn't do a lot of flashy things, they didn't get a ton of shots, but they were opportunistic and on a back-to-back night, they did what they had to do."
Detroit scored 17 goals in going 2-1-1 against Calgary last season. Pavel Datsyuk has five points in his last two games, and had seven last season against the Flames.
From the Bleachers
-
DETROIT: 3
CALGARY: 1
Final
Oct 31 11:30 PM -
DETROIT: 3
CALGARY: 1
End of Regulation
Oct 31 11:30 PM -
NHL
DETROIT 3
CALGARY 1 00:44 LEFT, 3RD PRD
Oct 31 11:29 PM -
DETROIT: 2
CALGARY: 1
End of 2nd
Oct 31 10:38 PM -
NHL
DETROIT 2
CALGARY 1 03:43 LEFT, 2ND PRD
Oct 31 10:33 PM -
NHL
DETROIT 1
CALGARY 1 04:42 LEFT, 2ND PRD
Oct 31 10:32 PM -
NHL
DETROIT 0
CALGARY 1 05:17 LEFT, 2ND PRD
Oct 31 10:31 PM -
DETROIT: 0
CALGARY: 0
End of 1st
Oct 31 9:44 PM
