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Red Wings stifle Sharks for fourth straight win

Oct 27, 2007 - 5:09 AM DETROIT (Ticker) -- Once again, the San Jose Sharks had no answers for the Detroit Red Wings.

Henrik Zetterberg scored a pair of goals, Valtteri Filppula had a tally and an assist and Detroit limited San Jose to just 11 shots as the Red Wings rolled to a 5-1 triumph over the Sharks on Friday.

Defenseman Andreas Lilja and Kirk Maltby also scored and Tomas Holmstrom set up two tallies for Detroit, which improved to 26-3-1 all-time at home against San Jose.

Facing a two-games-to-one deficit in the Western Conference semifinals last spring, the Red Wings yielded just three goals in reeling off three straight victories against the Sharks to advance. Detroit picked up where it left off this season, posting a 4-2 win at San Jose on October 18 on third-period tallies by rookie Matt Ellis and Pavel Datsyuk.

San Jose's Joe Thornton could not explain the past but knew exactly what was wrong Friday.

"They played really well and we played really bad," he said. "That's not a good combination for us. They're a good team. They move the puck well and have some players who can score goals."

In this one, the Red Wings were in control from the start as Filppula set the tone just 83 seconds into the first period with his first goal of the season. Mikael Samuelsson carried down the right wing and fed Filppula, who skated in from the slot and switched to his backhand before lifting the puck past goaltender Evgeni Nabokov.

"I was relieved," Filppula said of his first goal since March 24. "I've had some good scoring chances earlier, but the puck just didn't go in the net. It felt good to score. It probably relaxed me a little to get that first one."

The 23-year-old Finn believed it behooved Detroit to score the initial tally.

"It's important, against a good team, to get off to a good start," he said. "We had good chances all night and we set some good screens in front of the net."

Lilja doubled the lead with 4:29 remaining in the session, beating Nabokov high to the glove side with a wrist shot from the top of the slot. It was the blue-liner's first regular-season tally since April 17, 2006, a span of 69 games.

"I'm happy to finally get that devil off my back," Lilja said.

The Swede admitted he is attempting to jump into the play more often this season.

"It's part of our game plan," he said. "We keep one forward back, so then if the opportunity comes, one of the D can jump up."

After a scoreless middle period, the Red Wings broke open the game in the third. Zetterberg made it 3-0 just 39 seconds into the session, tipping Holmstrom's shot from the right faceoff circle after captain Nicklas Lidstrom's blast from the high slot was blocked.

With the goal, which originally was credited to Holmstrom, Zetterberg extended his points streak to a career-high 11 games.

Zetterberg increased the advantage to four at 8:12 with his eighth goal and league-leading 19th point of the season. The tally was the Swede's eighth in as many contests.

Just 22 seconds later, Maltby grabbed a rebound in front and flipped it past netminder Dimitri Patzold, who had replaced Nabokov after Zetterberg's goal.

The only thing not clicking for Detroit was its power play. The Red Wings, who have won four in a row overall and improved to 5-1-0 at home, went 0-for-6 with the man advantage.

Chris Osgood, who needed to make just three saves in each of the first two periods, had his shutout bid ended with 5:52 left in the third as defenseman Alexei Semenov beat him with a slap shot from the blue line during a power play.

Osgood, who also picked up an assist on Filppula's tally while improving to 4-0-0, finished with 10 saves.

"We had the momentum early, and when they took it away for a while, Ozzie made some big saves until we got the momentum back," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said.

"I have to wake up the shot-clock guy," Osgood joked. "He's ripping me off like four or five a game. I take pride and they judge me on this kind of stuff. I have to talk to him."

It marked the second consecutive game and third overall this campaign Detroit has held its opponent to fewer than 20 shots.

"As long as you keep them to the outside, there won't be as many shots on goal," Lilja said. "If you're allowing only 15 or 16 shots a game, the goalie can stop those."

Nabokov made 26 saves and Patzold stopped eight shots for the Sharks, who fell to 4-2-1 on the road this season.