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Hasek bounces back as Red Wings blank Blue Jackets

Dec 21, 2006 - 4:38 AM DETROIT (Ticker) -- Dominik Hasek simply would not let the Columbus Blue Jackets get the better of the Detroit Red Wings again.

Hasek made 27 saves to record his league-leading fifth shutout as the Red Wings skated to an easy 5-0 victory over the Blue Jackets.

It was the sixth win in the last eight games for Detroit, which dropped a 4-3 decision at Columbus on Monday. Hasek was awful in that game, yielding three goals on 12 shots before being pulled after one period.

But the six-time Vezina Trophy winner bounced back two days later, recording his 73rd career shutout while improving to 4-1-0 all-time against the Blue Jackets.

"I enjoyed the game," Hasek said. "It was good for me to come back after you've been pulled for the game. "If you give up three goals in 10 minutes, you don't feel good about it."

"Dom is a guy who works extremely hard," added left wing Kirk Maltby, who netted his first goal of the season in the second period. "He takes a lot of pride in playing and playing as well as he can."

Daniel Cleary scored a pair of goals in the first period to improve his team-leading total to 13 this season. Star defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom added a power-play goal and an assist for Detroit, which went 2-for-6 with a man advantage.

"I've just got to keep my head down and work hard," Cleary said. "That's all I keep telling myself - go to the net and try to shoot the puck as much as you can."

Playing for his third team in the last four seasons, Cleary is one goal away from matching his career high of 14 set with the Edmonton Oilers in 2000-01.

"I've just been getting an unbelievable opportunity, playing with players like (Robert) Lang and (Jason) Williams," he said. "(I am) in the right spot at the right time now."

"(Cleary) just needed some organization to believe in him," Maltby added. "He got the short end of the stick in a couple of organizations."

After Cleary tallied twice in the opening period, Maltby made it 3-0 when he flipped a shot from the doorstep over rookie goaltender Fredrik Norrena's right shoulder at 6:15 of the middle session.

"It's nice to get that first one out of the way," Maltby said. "Over the last probably dozen or so games, I've had lots of opportunities to either score or set one up."

Norrena stopped 17-of-22 shots before being pulled in the third period. The Blue Jackets, who went 0-for-6 on the power play, have never swept a home-and-home series from the Red Wings.

"We know we're a better team," Hasek said. "If you want to be a contender, a top team in the NHL, you cannot lose two games in a row to a team like Columbus."

Columbus coach Ken Hitchcock did not think there was that big of a gap in talent between the two clubs.

"I think the difference was we lost the special-teams game," he said. "They scored two power-play goals. That's the game. They scored on their chances and we didn't show the energy that we've shown in the past."