• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Zetterberg, Lidstrom help Red Wings cruise past Sharks

Jan 20, 2008 - 7:59 AM By Ryan Leong PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

SAN JOSE, California (Ticker) -- The Detroit Red Wings continue to own the San Jose Sharks.

All-Stars Henrik Zetterberg and defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom each had a goal and two assists as the Red Wings skated past the struggling Sharks, 6-3, on Saturday night.

Blue-liner Brian Rafalski added three assists for Detroit, which won three of the four meetings between the teams this season and improved to 43-15-4 all-time against San Jose.

"I thought we had a pretty good night," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. "We only gave up 18 shots on the road. We played pretty well and pretty intelligently and got good contributions from a lot of guys."

Defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh set up three tallies for the Sharks, who have lost a season-high four straight contests and continue to struggle at home with a 9-11-4 mark. Their nine home wins are tied for fewest in the NHL.

"We have to be more ready to play at the start," Sharks center Jeremy Roenick said. "We fell down 2-0 and battled back to tie it up, but we've got to keep moving from there. We can't keep taking steps backwards."

The short rest certainly did not help San Jose goaltender Evgeni Nabokov, who started the first 43 games of the season before taking one off Sunday. Since his one-day sabbatical, Nabokov has allowed 15 goals in losing three straight.

"I don't know how many were his fault tonight, with all the 5-on-3s they were getting," Sharks coach Ron Wilson said. "But we've got to play better defensively in front of him. We're giving up too many shots.

"It's not the goals against, it's giving up 30 shots a night. And that's not been our game the first couple of months of the season. We're used to only giving up about 20, and now it's up to 30, so we've got to fix our back end, for sure."

Nabokov did not have the answer either.

"I don't know, to be honest with you. Nothing changed, I feel the same," Nabokov said. "Pucks go in. I've got to look at the tape and see what I can change."

Detroit drew first blood on Zetterberg's 28th goal of the season at 6:53 of the first period. Lidstrom started the play, dishing to fellow All-Star Pavel Datsyuk, who backhanded a pass from the right faceoff circle to Zetterberg.

From the doorstep, the Swede tipped the puck past Nabokov on the stick side for a 1-0 lead.

The Red Wings used a penalty to their advantage 54 seconds into the middle period, scoring their fourth shorthanded goal of the season on a one-timer by Kris Draper from the left circle to make it 2-0.

San Jose halved the deficit 32 seconds later on the man advantage when Ozolinsh fired a blast from the left circle that was redirected by Devin Setoguchi, who was standing in front of the net.

Jonathan Cheechoo tied the game at 2-2 during another power play at 7:42 of the second. Cheechoo received a pass but initially was unable to handle the puck. The former Maurice Richard Trophy winner proceeded to skate past the end line before sneaking the puck under the right skate of netminder Dominik Hasek.

After the Sharks forechecked for at least a minute, the Red Wings snapped the tie on defenseman Niklas Kronwall's tally midway through the period.

Jiri Hudler tangled with Patrick Marleau near the crease, causing San Jose's captain to screen Nabokov and move him away from the net. The puck trickled off the stick of Ozolinsh and came to Kronwall, who backhanded it into a vacant net for his fifth of the season.

The Red Wings doubled their advantage when Lidstrom's one-timer from the point beat Nabokov to the stick side with 6:45 left in the session.

"We finally took advantage of the power plays we had," Lidstrom said. "It was great to see our team respond after the first power play we had. We couldn't get anything going, but it didn't discourage us. We kept going and got some goals on the power play."

Detroit capitalized on another man advantage when Tomas Holmstrom deflected Rafalski's blast from the point past Nabokov for a 5-2 lead with 4:33 left.

The Sharks got one back just 43 seconds into the third, when Steve Bernier flipped the puck into the net after a scramble in front. But Detroit clinched the win with 11:10 remaining, when Daniel Cleary converted Zetterberg's cross-ice feed during a 2-on-1 rush for his 19th goal of the season.

"They are a good skating team, they're physical and big," Cleary said. "We just seem to respond well to it. We don't back down or give an inch. I thought our (defense) played really well tonight, we didn't give (Joe) Thornton much time, Marleau didn't have anything, took away his speed, and that's the key to that team."