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Chelios guides Red Wings past Oilers

Oct 9, 2007 - 3:22 AM DETROIT (Ticker) -- Chris Chelios celebrated his milestone in style.

Playing in his 1,550th game, Chelios scored a regular-season goal for the first time in 18 months and Tomas Holmstrom tallied for the third time in as many games as the Detroit Red Wings defeated the Edmonton Oilers, 4-2, on Monday.

Chelios, who moved past former Red Wing Alex Delvecchio for eighth place all-time in games played, controlled his own rebound and beat Oilers goaltender Dwayne Roloson, who was sprawled on the ice.

"He jumped up in the play, and I think it was the third rebound," Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom said. "He just kept whacking away at it."

Detroit coach Mike Babcock said that nothing Chelios does surprises him.

"It's special to play in that many games, and to still be a big part of our team," Babcock said. "He shot and followed. Just like you're supposed to do."

The 45-year-old defenseman, who scored in last season's playoffs, hadn't recorded a regular-season goal since April 8, 2006, at Columbus.

Chelios' goal - his 18th against Edmonton, the most he has scored against any team - gave Detroit a 2-0 lead with 5:50 remaining in the first period.

"I got the rebound - two rebounds, actually," Chelios said. "Sammy (Mikael Samuelsson) made a nice play to spring me up front and the puck bounced off to the side. By the third shot, Roloson was out of position and couldn't really recover."

Holmstrom scored what proved to be the game-winning goal just 27 seconds into the third period.

With Detroit leading 2-1 and on the power play, Holmstrom was stationed in front of the net when Nicklas Lidstrom blasted a shot from the point that deflected off Henrik Zetterberg to Holmstrom, who tapped the puck into the net.

Edmonton's Andrew Cogliano, who was a first-round selection in the 2005 draft, beat Detroit goalie Dominik Hasek from the bottom of the right faceoff circle for his first goal with 9.5 seconds remaining in the second period.

Detroit took a 3-1 lead into the third period on Saturday against Chicago - and lost 4-3 in a shootout. Lidstrom said that came to mind after Cogliano's goal.

"We thought about that when they scored late in the second period," he said. "We came in and said, we have to do better in our own end tonight."

Lidstrom thought it was the best game Detroit has played so far.

"We played well offensively and on special teams," he said. "We still have to tighten things up in our own end."

The momentary lapses baffle Hasek.

"It seems like we spend time in their zone and then when the rush comes down this way, we seem to lose a player for whatever reason," Hasek said. "You not only have to know who's in front of you, but also who's behind you."

Oilers coach Craig MacTavish said that his team's three penalties came back to haunt Edmonton.

"We were in good shape after two periods, but anytime you take that many penalties early in the game, you get out of sync," MacTavish said. "I was pretty happy with the way we play, except we had too many penalties early."

Detroit outshot Edmonton, 14-5, in the first period but only led 2-1 after the first 20 minutes.

Samuelsson opened the scoring with his first tally of the season at 6:51, just as a tripping penalty to Steve Staois expired. Samuelsson went behind the net and tucked the puck into the right corner.

Just 19 seconds after Chelios' goal, Shawn Horcoff halved the deficit for the Oilers with a quick shot from the slot that beat Dominik Hasek on the glove side. It was only the second shot of the period for Edmonton. It was a homecoming for Horcoff, who played at Michigan State before being drafted in the fourth round of the 1998 draft.

Kris Draper added an empty-net goal to ice the game for Detroit.

Hasek finished with 18 saves, while Roloson had 31 for Edmonton.