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Zetterberg propels Red Wings to seventh consecutive win

Nov 2, 2007 - 4:10 AM CALGARY, Alberta (Ticker) -- The beat goes on for Henrik Zetterberg and the Detroit Red Wings.

The NHL's goals and points leader had a shorthanded tally and a power-play goal to extend his season-opening points streak as the Red Wings posted their seventh straight victory, a 4-1 triumph over the Calgary Flames on Thursday.

With the game tied at 1-1 midway through the first period, Zetterberg's slap shot from just inside the left faceoff circle beat goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff with 9:16 remaining.

"I just kept the puck in and made some shots and got some good retrievals," Zetterberg said. "I took the shot again. I don't think (Kiprusoff) saw anything out there. The puck was just laying there and (I) put it in."

The tally gave Zetterberg his 14th consecutive game with a point, tying Norm Ullman's club record set in 1960-61. Zetterberg has 12 goals and 12 assists this season.

The current streak is the longest to start a campaign since Ottawa's Dany Heatley began 2005-06 with a point in his first 22 games.

Zetterberg added a second goal with just under seven minutes remaining in the third period to give the Red Wings a 4-1 cushion.

Jiri Hudler and Daniel Cleary also scored for Detroit, which leads the Western Conference with 49 goals.

Detroit coach Mike Babcock clearly liked what he saw.

"It was one of those games where we got the puck, we got the puck in the net," Babcock said. "They had a good push in the third period, but I thought we were pretty good in the first two. And then we capitalized on the power play."

Chris Osgood, who made 26 saves to improve to 7-0-0 this season, has been stellar since taking over for Dominik Hasek. The 16-year veteran has won all four games while Hasek has been sidelined with a sore hip.

Osgood, who admits he somehow just gets himself in the way of the puck sometimes, says his team seems to find a way to grind out a win.

"It was still 3-1 until it was late," Osgood said. "We stuck with our game plan. We grind out wins, we stay tight and block shots in our own zone. No selfishness, those would be the best words. Willing to win no matter who scores or what happens."

Zetterberg, however, was quick to credit Osgood.

"He's doing everything for us back there," Zetterberg said. "He spreads so much harmony when he makes some good saves. No panic. He just makes the saves."

Jarome Iginla enabled the Flames to open the scoring just 5:28 into the first period.

Iginla gained control of the puck at the blue line and skated in on Osgood before feeding Alex Tanguay at the side of the net for an uncontested goal.

The assist aside, Iginla was not pleased with the result.

"We are not happy with it," Calgary's captain said. "We know we need to play better against the top teams. When we know it's a big challenge, I think we start getting away from our game. We don't play with enough confidence. We're not skating and we're not moving. There were other things tonight, but I think that's definitely the starting point."

Calgary coach Mike Keenan agreed with Iginla.

"I thought we had enough momentum going into the game and had the confidence to play a team that is on a roll and at the top of the league," Keenan said. "I'm quite surprised that we didn't really come out to play one of our best games."

Hudler evened the game just under four minutes later on the power play.

Skating just inside the blue line, defenseman Brett Lebda fired a crisp pass to Hudler in the right circle. The Czech ripped a shot past an out-of-position Kiprusoff at 9:11 for his third of the season.

Kiprusoff finished with 22 saves for Calgary.