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Lilja helps Red Wings to sixth straight win

Dec 10, 2007 - 2:22 AM DETROIT (Ticker) -- An unlikely hero came through to keep the league's best team streaking.

Defenseman Andreas Lilja scored the game-winner and Jiri Hudler had three assists to lead the Detroit Red Wings to their sixth consecutive victory, a 5-2 triumph over the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday.

Dominik Hasek made 15 saves for Detroit, which has not lost to an Eastern Conference opponent since March 11 of last season.

Just over two minutes after the Hurricanes tied the game, Lilja's blast from the right point beat Cam Ward on his glove side for his second tally of the season to give Detroit a 3-2 advantage with 7:20 remaining in the middle session.

"It's always nice to score," Lilja said. "It doesn't happen often. When it happens that makes it better."

It was the 32-year-old Swede's first game-winning goal of his six-year career.

"You can't count on (Henrik Zetterberg) and Pavel (Datsyuk) to score three or four goals every night," Lilja said. "Everybody has to contribute."

"His job is to play defense and kill penalties," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "He got off a good shot."

Hasek did the rest from there, despite being rarely challenged thanks to a stout Red Wings' defensive effort. The six-time Vezina Trophy winner turned aside four shots in the first period, five in the next and six in the third.

"It seemed like we were chasing quite a bit, were in defensive posture quite a bit as opposed to having the puck and trying to establish our game," Hurricanes coach Peter Laviolette said.

Pavel Datsyuk and Tomas Holmstrom each added a pair of insurance goals for Detroit in the last three minutes of the contest to provide the final margin. Datsyuk's goal extended his point streak to eight games.

The Hurricanes franchise has lost 14 straight games at Joe Louis Arena, not winning in Detroit since they were the Hartford Whalers.

The Red Wings opened the scoring when Valtteri Filppula skated in from the right wing and put a shot on goal that Ward appeared to stop while sliding back into the net. The puck, however, crossed the goalline under Ward at 4:35 of the first period.

Erik Cole even the contest at 1-1 early in the second when he slapped his own rebound out of midair past Hasek just 46 seconds into the period.

The Red Wings regained the lead at 6:02 of the middle session. After taking a touch pass from Hudler, Dan Cleary launched a quick shot that Jeff Franzen deflected to the top corner past Ward to take a 2-1 edge.

"I felt real good," Hudler said. "We came out with a real good tempo. It was fun to play."

Cole tied the contest again at 2-2 with 9:24 left in the second, tallying a power-play goal by one-timing a pass from Scott Walker past Hasek. It was his seventh goal of the season.

"It's tough. You have to keep trying to battle back, coming from behind," Cole said. "We played a better second period. We felt like we still had more to give."

Ward stopped 33 of the 38 shots he faced for Carolina.