• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Hasek leads Red Wings to seventh consecutive victory

Nov 9, 2006 - 3:58 AM DETROIT (Ticker) -- Dominik Hasek may not have had an easier shutout in his 15-year career.

Hasek made just 16 saves for his second shutout of the season and Dan Cleary and Henrik Zetterberg scored to lead the Detroit Red Wings to their seventh consecutive victory, a 3-0 triumph over the Edmonton Oilers.

Detroit avenged its most recent defeat, a 3-1 loss to Edmonton on October 21, and raised its record to 19-2-2 in its last 24 regular-season home encounters against the Oilers, who have dropped four straight contests.

"It's two points, that's all," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. "We wanted to come out and play a physical game. We want to be a good team at home. That was our focus."

A six-time Vezina Trophy winner, Hasek did not have to face a shot on goal in the first period en route to his fifth consecutive victory and 70th career shutout. The 41-year-old Czech turned away seven shots in the second session and nine in the third.

"Maybe it happened, but I can't remember," Hasek said of not facing a shot in the opening 20 minutes. "As a forward, you take pride in taking shots," Oilers left wing Ryan Smyth said. "The strength of our hockey team is playing in their zone. We didn't get any of that in the first. They kept us on the outside on the most part of the game."

After posting a 14-0 advantage in first-period shots, the Red Wings opened the scoring at 1:55 of the second, when Dan Cleary redirected Kirk Maltby's blast from the right point between goaltender Dwayne Roloson's pads.

Zetterberg netted his fifth goal of the campaign - a shorthanded tally - with a bad-angle shot from near the left goal line that beat Roloson inside the left goalpost.

"I think their game plan was to get the puck behind the D and get it going that way," Zetterberg said. "We did a real good job on that play. The second guy was helping the D and we put the puck on their side of the ice and worked their D."

Detroit took advantage of Patrick Thoresen's holding penalty when Jiri Hudler scored his third goal of the season by quickly slipping Pavel Datsyuk's cross-ice pass on the doorstep into an open net with 4:32 remaining.

Roloson stopped 42 shots and fell to 4-11-3 lifetime for the Oilers, who lost for the sixth time in seven road contests after being outshot, 45-16. "It's still disappointing," Roloson said. "We lost a game. That's the bottom line. We want to win. If you make 100 saves or one save, you want to win."

"It's just been an absolute humiliating experience here," Oilers coach Craig MacTavish said. "We're up against a team that's playing very well. ... You've got to put in a better effort forward than what we did in the first period."

Detroit center Jason Williams was taken off the ice on a stretcher after being knocked to the ice in a second-period collision with Edmonton's Raffi Torres. However, he did not lose consciousness and needed stitches to close a cut in his forehead.

"I thought it was clean," Babcock said. "It was just a good body check. He didn't have his arm up or anything. (Williams) was watching (Jason) Smith and I don't think he saw (Torres). I think the hit might have dazed him, but he was conscious when he left the ice."

"I'm not trying to hurt anybody," Torres said. "I'm just trying to finish my hits out there. It's part of me playing my game. It's tough to see stuff like that. As a fan or a player, you don't want to see things like that."