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Hudler's two goals give Red Wings sweep of Predators

Mar 15, 2007 - 4:50 AM DETROIT (Ticker) -- For the second consecutive night, rookie Jiri Hudler was the hero for the Detroit Red Wings.

Hudler scored his second game-winning goal in as many games as the Red Wings posted a 4-2 victory over the Nashville Predators for a sweep of an important home-and-home series.

With the regular season winding down every point is crucial but Detroit defenseman Mathieu Schneider felt the games with Nashville took on a playoff feel."

"We thought they were big games," Schneider said of the home-and-home series. "These were the biggest games we've played in a while. It's a division rivalry, and first overall at stake.

"A lot of the games we've played lately, Chicago, Los Angeles and Boston, are out of the playoffs and they are hard games to get up for. These are easy games to get up for. They are playoff-like."

Hudler scored the winner early in the third period of Detroit's 5-2 victory in Nashville on Tuesday. He entered the home-and-home series with no game-winners in his last 22 contests.

"I'm having a blast right now at this time of the year," Hudler said. "It's been 70 games already. I'm pretty sure I've learned a lot. I hope I've learned a lot."

"I thought we did a really good job of taking away their top guys," Nashville coach Barry Trotz said. "(Pavel) Datsyuk wasn't a factor in the two games. Jiri Hudler is not the first guy that comes to mind when you're playing the Detroit Red Wings."

The Red Wings (45-17-9) have 99 points and took over sole possession of first place in the NHL, one point ahead of the Predators. Defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom and Kirk Maltby also scored and goaltender Dominik Hasek made 27 saves for Detroit, which is 6-1-1 in its last eight contests.

Hasek rebounded from a poor performance on Sunday when he allowed six goals on 25 shots in a 6-3 loss to the Boston Bruins. He is 3-0-0 with just five goals allowed in three starts against Nashville this season.

"We were a little bit slow in the first period, but after that we dominated," Hasek said. "We deserved to win."

Alexander Radulov and Jason Arnott scored while Chris Mason made 31 saves for the Predators (46-20-6), who are 6-2-2 in their last 10 games.

"Losing two games to them (Detroit) back-to-back really stinks," Mason said. "We didn't get any points out of them."

Radulov gave the Predators a 1-0 lead at 18:06 of the first period when he picked up a loose puck at center ice, skated in on Hasek and fired a shot over his glove.

After Lidstrom tied the game at one when his slap shot from the left point beat Mason at 1:16 of the second period, Arnott gave Nashville the lead back at 10:12 when he jammed a rebound from the doorstep past Hasek.

Hudler capped his first multi-goal game with the winning tally at 5:41 of the third period when he took a pass from Robert Lang and roofed a shot over Mason's glove for a 3-2 advantage.

"I didn't know it was in," Hudler said. "I wasn't sure it went in, so I wasn't celebrating. But I came on the bench and the guys said, 'Hudie it's in.' Sometimes the puck goes in, sometimes not."

"Lang made a great pass and Hudler made a good play and roofed it," Mason said. "When you make a turnover at the blue line, that's what happens. He (Hudler) has been a good player against us all year. He's skilled and now he's getting more ice time."

Earlier, Hudler tied the game, 2-2, at 16:23 of the second period when he banged in Kyle Calder's rebound between Mason's pads.

Datsyuk had two assists and extended his points streak to eight games in which he has one goal and 14 assists.

The Predators are 13-3-2 in the second of back-to-back games while the Red Wings are just 1-4-1 in their last six games of second consecutive contests.