The worst team in the NHL was no match for the league’s best team – and goalie.
Chris Osgood pared down his league-best goals-against average to 1.87 by shutting out the Los Angeles Kings, leading Detroit to a 3-0 win Tuesday night.
The Red Wings have a 36-10-4 record for 76 points. That’s nearly double the 40 points of the Kings, who have won only one of the past 18 meetings with Detroit.
“They are the best team in the league for a reason,” Kings goalie Jason LaBarbera said. “They probably didn’t have one of their better games, but they found a way to win. That’s the reason they are in first place and we’re not.”
In Tuesday’s other NHL games, it was: Montreal 8, Boston 2; New Jersey 7, Philadelphia 3; N.Y. Rangers 4, Atlanta 0; Florida 5, Ottawa 3; San Jose 3, Chicago 2; the New York Islanders 6, Carolina 3; Tampa Bay 4, Edmonton 3; Calgary 2, Minnesota 1; Columbus 4, Dallas 2; and Nashville 4, Colorado 0.
Osgood will start for the Western Conference in the All-Star game, but only because Vancouver’s Roberto Luongo, the leading vote-getter in the fan balloting, decided to skip the game to be with his wife during her pregnancy.
“It doesn’t really matter,” said Osgood, a four-time All-Star. “If I started, it would be great. If not, that’s fine. I haven’t really put too much thought into it. I don’t really put much into my average or save percentage, either. I just want to be able to win a ton of games by the time I’m done playing. That most important to me.”
Canadiens 8, Bruins 2
In Montreal, Tom Kostopoulos scored 14 seconds into the game and Maxim Lapierre got Montreal’s fourth goal of the opening period with 3 seconds remaining.
Andrei Kostitsyn, who also scored in the first, got his second goal of the game on a power play 17:44 into the third as Montreal set a season high for goals.
Devils 7, Flyers 3
In Philadelphia, low-scoring defenseman Johnny Oduya had a goal and three assists and New Jersey scored five times on the power play.
The Devils beat Philadelphia for the fifth straight time this season to move into first place in the Atlantic Division.
Patrik Elias and Zach Parise each had a pair of goals, and Jamie Langenbrunner and Dainius Zubrus also scored for New Jersey.
The Devils equaled the team record for power-play goals and fell one short of the franchise mark.
Rangers 4, Thrashers 0
In New York, Jaromir Jagr scored and had two assists on a newly created line, and defenseman Fedor Tyutin helped set up three goals for the Rangers.
Sean Avery and Brandon Dubinsky scored first-period goals, Martin Straka added one in the second, and Jagr finished the surge in the third to provide plenty of offense for Henrik Lundqvist.
Lundqvist stopped 14 shots in earning his seventh shutout and 14th in three NHL seasons.
Panthers 5, Senators 3
In Sunrise, Fla., All-Star Tomas Vokoun stopped 43 shots, Tanner Glass scored his first NHL goal and Nathan Horton had four assists.
Jay Bouwmeester, Stephen Weiss, David Booth and Gregory Campbell also scored for the Panthers, who snapped a six-game losing streak against the Senators.
Mike Fisher had a goal and two assists for Ottawa, which also got goals from Dean McAmmond and Chris Neil.
Sharks 3, Blackhawks 2
In San Jose, Calif., Joe Pavelski scored a short-handed goal, Christian Ehrhoff finally got his first goal of the season and San Jose snapped a four-game losing streak.
Sandis Ozolinsh also scored and Evgeni Nabokov made 28 saves for the Sharks, who improved the Western Conference’s worst home record by holding on through a tense third period.
Islanders 6, Hurricanes 3
In Raleigh, N.C., Mike Sillinger scored two of New York’s three short-handed goals.
Richard Park also scored down a man, Sean Bergenheim scored on a breakaway while being dragged down and Brendan Witt and Blake Comeau added late goals for the Islanders, who scored three short-handed goals for the third time in franchise history and first since 2000.
Radek Martinek and Trent Hunter both had two assists and Comeau assisted on a goal for New York, which broke a 1-all tie with three goals in the second period and won its fourth straight road game.
Eric Staal, Mike Commodore and Matt Cullen scored for Carolina, which had its two-game winning streak snapped.
Lightning 4, Oilers 3
In Tampa, Fla., Martin St. Louis had a goal and two assists to help Tampa Bay snap a five-game home losing streak.
Vinny Lecavalier, Brad Richards and Craig MacDonald also scored for the Lightning. Andrew Cogliano, Steve Staios and Ales Hemsky scored for Edmonton.
Despite three victories in a row, the Lightning are last in the Eastern Conference.
Flames 2, Wild 1
In Calgary, Alberta, Craig Conroy scored the go-ahead goal at 8:36 of the third period to help Calgary take over first place in the Northwest Division.
Stephane Yelle also scored for Calgary.
Blue Jackets 4, Stars 2
In Dallas, rookie defenseman Kris Russell scored his first two NHL goals, including the tiebreaker on a power play with 6:15 left, and Columbus rallied to stop Dallas’ three-game winning streak.
Andrew Murray also scored, Zherdev had three assists, and Pascal Leclaire stopped 31 shots for the Blue Jackets. Rick Nash added an empty-netter on a Columbus power play for his 26th of the season.
Mike Smith made 26 saves, Brenden Morrow scored his 20th goal, and Steve Ott also scored for the Stars.
Predators 4, Avalanche 0
In Denver, Dan Ellis stopped 39 shots and Martin Erat scored two goals to lead Nashville.
It was the fourth shutout of the season for Ellis, who improved to 11-5-1 and gave the Predators their third straight win.
Add A Comment