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Red Wings aim for season sweep of Coyotes

Feb 17, 2007 - 5:15 PM Detroit (37-16-6) at Phoenix (25-30-3) 9:00 pm EST

GLENDALE, Arizona (Ticker) -- For the Detroit Red Wings to stay in contention for the top spot in the NHL, they have to beat the weaker teams in the league.

The Red Wings go for a series sweep of a weak Phoenix Coyotes club on Saturday.

Detroit suffered an embarrassing 6-1 loss to the league's worst club, the Philadelphia Flyers, on Monday. Detroit, The Red Wings, whose 80 points are third in the NHL, responded with a 3-1 triumph over the Dallas Stars on Wednesday.

Henrik Zetterberg scored against Dallas to continue his hot pace. The left wing has eight goals in his last eight games, and has nine goals and 12 assists in his last nine contests.

Chris Osgood returned after missing eight games with a broken right index finger and made 17 saves. Netminder Dominik Hasek is listed as day-to-day with a wrist injury.

Phoenix has 53 points, 14 points out of the last playoff spot in the Western Conference. The Coyotes are 0-3-1 in their last four, and blew a three-goal lead a 5-4 loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday.

Mathias Tjarnqvist, Keith Ballard, Owen Nolan and Oleg Saprykin scored for the Coyotes.

Tjarnqvist was acquired from the Dallas Stars in a trade on Monday. The left wing has a goal and an assist in in his two games with Phoenix.

Goaltender Curtis Joseph made 35 saves against the Ducks. Joseph, who played for Detroit in the 2003 and 2004 seasons, is 0-2-0 with a 6.60 goals-against average against his former club this season.