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Lidstrom's late goal helps Red Wings edge Coyotes

Feb 5, 2009 - 5:38 AM DETROIT (Ticker) -- Joakim Lindstrom scored a big goal for the Phoenix Coyotes. Nicklas Lidstrom scored an even bigger one for the Detroit Red Wings.

Lidstrom netted a power-play goal with 39 seconds remaining in the third period Wednesday, leading the Red Wings to a 5-4 victory over the struggling Coyotes.

Marian Hossa posted his second straight two-goal performance while Henrik Zetterberg and Mikael Samuelsson also tallied for Detroit, which has won two in a row following a five-game slide.

"It's not the way we want to win, but we're still able to win games," Lidstrom said. "We're still working at details in our game that could be better. Our penalty-killing isn't where we want it to be. Goals against is another area that we have to work on. By getting wins, we can still work on that."

Pavel Datsyuk, Daniel Cleary and Valtteri Filppula each notched two assists for the Red Wings, who have gone 7-for-13 on the power play in their three meetings with the Coyotes this season.

"It was a good win for us," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. "I don't know if it was as wild as the score was. We should've won that game 4-2 or whatever. That's just the way it goes some nights."

Joakim Lindstrom and defenseman Ed Jovanovski each recorded a goal and an assist, enforcer Todd Fedoruk and Joel Perrault also scored and blue-liner Keith Yandle set up a pair of tallies for Phoenix, which has lost four straight on the road and five in a row overall.

Both Lindstrom and Lidstrom hail from Sweden, but that - along with the spellings of their surnames - is where the similarities end between the two.

Still seeking a permanent job in the NHL, Lindstrom scored his 12th goal in 62 career games with just over five minutes remaining in the third to forge a 4-4 tie for the Coyotes. But Lidstrom, a six-time Norris Trophy winner who was skating in his 1,300th NHL contest, netted career goal No. 220 with less than a minute to go as Detroit wasted little time converting a late power play.

Perrault, who drew Phoenix within 4-3 just over seven minutes into the final session, was called for hooking in the offensive zone with 46 seconds left.

"I thought it was two pretty weak calls there," said Lindstrom, referring to Perrault's penalty and his own for holding the stick earlier in the period that led to Samuelsson's power-play goal.

Just seven seconds later, Lidstrom unleashed a slap shot from the left point that deflected off the stick of Coyotes defenseman Ken Klee and between the pads of goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov for his eighth goal of the campaign.

"I don't know if it hit Cleary in front or if it hit their defenseman," Lidstrom said. "It hit something. We'll take the win (and) I'll take (the game-winning goal), for sure."

Coyotes coach Wayne Gretzky was more upset with a non-call than the one against Perrault.

"It was a penalty (on Perrault), I wasn't debating that," Gretzky said. "But there were three hooks on our guys before that. Our penalty was clearly a penalty, but they clearly missed a hook before that."

It was the 112th career power-play goal for Lidstrom, snapping a tie with Brian Leetch for eighth place on the all-time list among defensemen.

Detroit netminder Chris Osgood was glad the team was able to win Lidstrom's milestone contest.

"It's always good to win those games," Osgood said. "When you play with somebody a long time and they get milestones, you want to win those particular games for them. Nick getting the game-winner was even better. He's a great player and he's got a knack for doing real good things."

Hossa, who tallied twice in the Red Wings' 4-3 shootout victory over the St. Louis Blues on Monday, opened the scoring in this one with 5:50 remaining in the first period. Jovanovski pulled the Coyotes even by converting a breakaway chance while on the man advantage with two minutes to go in the session, but Hossa capped his sixth multi-goal effort of the season at 5:50 of the second by shoveling the puck past Bryzgalov after walking in from the left point untouched.

Fedoruk knotted the contest at 8:48 with his fifth of the season before Zetterberg, who was back in the lineup after missing three games with back spasms, beat Bryzgalov with a wrist shot from the inner edge of the right faceoff circle with 8:31 left to stake Detroit to a 3-2 advantage.

"I was happy to be out there again," said Zetterberg, who was reunited with former linemate Datsyuk. "It's the first time in a long time we played together. It's like riding a bike - you know where you're supposed to be when he has the puck. He made a great pass to me behind his back on the goal. It's fun to play with him."

Samuelsson doubled the lead at 5:43 of the third, one-timing a cross-ice pass from along the right wing boards by Jiri Hudler past Bryzgalov. But Perrault began the Coyotes' comeback at 7:06, when he fired a loose puck by Osgood from the right side of the crease for his second goal in as many nights.

"It ricocheted around off the boards, spun off of somebody's stick, hit two guys and went in off my skate," said Osgood, who turned aside 23 shots. "It happens."

"When it got to 4-2, the game should've been done," Babcock said. "We found a way to let them back in the game, and that's the way it goes. ... It was just one of those things."

With Detroit's Darren Helm in the penalty box for goalie interference, Phoenix captain Shane Doan sent a cross-slot pass to Lindstrom, who one-timed it just inside the right goalpost from the top of the right circle with 5:04 left to deadlock the game for the third time.

Doan was pleased with his team's effort in the third period.

"We thought we had played a good game," he said. "We felt that if we played that same way for 60 minutes, we'd have a chance to win."

Bryzgalov made 28 saves for the Coyotes, who scored a total of one goal in their previous three games.