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Three third-period goals lift Red Wings over Panthers

Dec 16, 2007 - 4:55 AM By Chuck Klonke PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

DETROIT (Ticker) -- The Detroit Red Wings continue to make history with their high-powered offense.

The Red Wings managed a rare goal on a penalty shot at home during a three-goal final period that lifted the team to a 5-2 win over the Florida Panthers on Saturday.

The win was the 200th of coach Mike Babcock's career.

Chris Osgood has no trouble stopping shots by the Panthers. It was the ones his own defensemen put on him that gave him problems.

Veteran defensemen Nicklas Lidstrom and Chris Chelios helped account for the Panthers' two goals when they each tipped pucks into their own net in the second period. But Detroit's third-period offensive onslaught got the blue-liners off the hook.

"We almost gave them a third one, too," Babcock said. "There's no sense worrying about it. You have to just keep going."

Daniel Cleary, defenseman Brian Rafalski and Valtteri Filppula each tallied in the final period, with Filppula becoming the first Red Wing in 15 years to convert a penalty shot at home.

Cleary, replacing the injured Tomas Holmstrom on Detroit's top line with Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk, snapped a 2-2 tie when he tapped the rebound of defenseman Andreas Lilja's shot between the pads of goaltender Tomas Vokoun at 5:40.

"I always wondered why Homer smiles every day," Cleary said. "Now I know. Those guys (Datsyuk and Zetterberg) have the puck all night. They make it easy."

Babcock said it was not a difficult decision to put Cleary on the top line.

"He's more like Homer than anyone else," Babcock said.

Rafalski gave the Red Wings a two-goal cushion 64 seconds later, when his shot from the point during a power play sailed over Vokoun's glove. It was the third man-advantage goal of the game for Detroit.

Filppula's goal came on the Red Wings' second penalty shot of the third period, which was awarded after Vokoun threw his stick at the puck. Filppula beat the goalie low to the stick side at 11:17 to increase the lead to 5-2.

It was the second penalty-shot attempt Filppula has converted this week. He also cashed in against Nashville on Monday.

"I decided to go with the same move as the other night," Filppula said. "I don't think the goalies have seen that too much. I haven't had too many breakaways."

Filppula compared penalty shots to a shootout, with one exception.

"I get (credited with) a goal for this," he said with a smile.

It was the first time a Red Wings player had scored on a penalty shot at home since Paul Ysebaert converted against Los Angeles' Robb Stauber on November 27, 1992.

This was the first time in Red Wings history that they have had two penalty shots in a game. Vokoun had stopped Datsyuk with his stick on one at 7:48 of the third.

The first goal off a Detroit player was credited to Olli Jokinen just 46 seconds into the middle period. The shot by Florida's captain glanced off Lidstrom's stick to tie the game at 1-1.

Florida went ahead at 4:59, when Radek Dvorak's shot hit off Chelios's skate and went past Osgood.

Detroit's second power-play goal of the game tied it at 2-2.

Defenseman Niklas Kronwall took the initial shot and Jiri Hudler whacked at the rebound, sending it to Johan Franzen, who scored from the right side of the crease at 8:58 of the second. In effect, the Red Wings had a two-man advantage because Rostislav Olesz was hobbling around after blocking a shot by Kronwall.

Detroit dominated the first period, outshooting the Panthers, 15-8. But the Red Wings scored only one goal against Vokoun, and it came while Detroit had a two-man advantage.

Zetterberg sent a pass across the front of the net to Datsyuk, who put the puck into the upper corner of the net at 6:18 while parked to the left of the crease.

Jokinen was unhappy with the Panthers' performance.

"After it was 4-2, some of our guys quit playing," the Finn said. "That's a first-place team. I don't think it's too much to ask for guys to play their butts off every shift. We didn't stick to our game plan very well. We threw the puck away and made bad decisions. If you throw the puck away against them, you'll wind up taking penalties all night."