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Holmstrom, Cleary help Red Wings skate past Oilers

Nov 12, 2010 - 8:48 AM Detroit, MI (Sports Network) - Tomas Holmstrom and Dan Cleary both scored twice to lead the Detroit Red Wings to an easy 6-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers at Joe Louis Arena.

Johan Franzen got his 100th career goal, while Valtteri Filppula also scored for the Red Wings, who have captured five of their last six games and will continue their current six-game homestand on Saturday against Colorado.

Detroit goaltender Jimmy Howard finished with 23 saves.

"We don't want to read more into it than what it is, but it was a good game for our team," Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock said of the offensive outburst. "We didn't give up much."

Dustin Penner and Theo Peckham scored for the struggling Oilers, who have dropped four of their last five games and fell to 4-8-2 on the season. Nikolai Khabibulin yielded all six goals on 34 shots for Edmonton.

"They're a good team, very opportunistic and patient," said Penner. "From our viewpoint I think we were more focused then we were the night before. But, sometimes when it rains it pours, we just have to regroup and get out game back."

Detroit opened the scoring courtesy of Filppula's fourth goal. Jiri Hudler started the play by standing behind the net looking for an open man. Finally, he emerged near the right post and sent a perfect saucer pass over two Edmonton sticks directly to Filppula, who had cut into the low slot from the right circle and beat Khabibulin at 7:29 of the first period.

Exactly six minutes later, the hosts increased their lead to two. Henrik Zetterberg sent a hard pass from the right side into the slot, where Pavel Datsyuk attempted a redirection. Khabibulin stopped it, but the rebound was not controlled and Holmstrom punched it home from the right post.

After Cleary's first goal of the game and fifth of the season made it 3-0 with 2:21 to play in the first, he struck again at 2:18 of the middle session for a four-goal Detroit advantage. Todd Bertuzzi forced a turnover as the Oilers were trying to break out of their defensive zone and he fired the disc toward the net. Cleary gained control at the bottom of the right circle and his turnaround wrister hit the back of the cage.

Even though Mike Modano failed on a penalty shot at the 5:22 mark, the onslaught continued when Franzen tallied on the power play with 2:57 to go before the second intermission. With Andrew Cogliano in the penalty box for high-sticking, Franzen chipped the bouncing puck past Khabibulin from the low slot.

Penner's power-play goal 58 seconds into the final stanza got the Oilers on the scoreboard, but Holmstrom's second tally of the game pushed the Detroit cushion back to five with 3:20 to play.

In the waning minutes, Peckham's first goal of the season capped the scoring.

Game Notes

Bertuzzi and Zetterberg both had two assists...Oilers forward Shawn Horcoff missed his second consecutive game due to a leg injury...Detroit has won seven of the last 10 meetings with Edmonton...The Red Wings improved to 10-3-1 in conference action this season...The Oilers were 1-for-3 on the power play, while Detroit scored on its only chance with the extra skater.