Two early goals, Osgood shut down Bruins

by Casey Richey on Nov 3, 2009 8:52 PM CST in Game Recaps Comment 4 comments

Must be good to be home for the Red Wings. Two first period goals were all the Red Wings needed in the return to Joe Louis Arena with Chris Osgood in great form in net.

Boston's Marco Sturm went to the box for hooking Brett Lebda in the Bruins' offensive zone, putting Detroit on its first power play of the game. Henrik Zetterberg wasted no time, firing a loose puck off the face off over Tim Thomas' shoulder for a 1-0 Red Wings lead two seconds into the man advantage. Zetterberg's third goal of the season came at 14:21 of the first period from Pavel Datsyuk. Shortly following Zetterberg's goal, Tomas Holmstrom scored his 8th goal of the season on a great drop pass from Datsyuk. Todd Bertuzzi got the puck to Datsyuk with a great outlet pass and Datsyuk dropped the puck to Holmstrom in the slot for an easy shot past Thomas.

The second period was dominated by more physical play and close calls on offensive chances, including a blown 3-on-1 for the Bruins that Chris Osgood stopped. The Bruins also spent the first 1:20 of a power play in their offensive zone, applying constant pressure on Osgood. The Red Wings killed off the remainder of the penalty and got two minutes of their own, creating several chances and most importantly, killing two minutes of game clock.

Osgood stopped all 29 shots in the process of earning his 50th career shut out and the Bruins were shut out for the second consecutive game. Detroit's second consecutive win ties the season streak but more importantly the Red Wings pick up two points against a very talented and physical Bruins team. Boston out shot Detroit 29-26 and had a +11 edge in the faceoff circle. Despite the numbers against them, Detroit was able to maintain the two goal lead throughout the duration of the game.

Detroit takes on the San Jose Sharks on Thursday at Joe Louis Arena at 7:30 p.m. while the Bruins face the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.

MrNorrisTrophy's Wing of the Game: Although tempting to sneak Pavel Datsyuk in there, I have to give credit where credit is due. Chris Osgood played great in net tonight and along with a few posts, his pads were in the right place at the right time.

Chris Osgood

#30 / Goalie / Detroit Red Wings

Height: 5-10

Weight: 180

Born: Nov 26, 1972

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Not perfect

But a much improved performance. These last two games were much more pleasant to watch. I don’t think we dominated tonight as much as we did against Calgary, but we capitalized when we need to, and clamped down on D when we needed to. And yes, Osgood was very good (the help from his posts notwithstanding). Impressive display from a team now ailing from the flu. Welcome home boys.

BTW, great analysis, as usual.

by Brobz on Nov 3, 2009 9:10 PM CST reply actions

I feel like I can breathe tonight. I wasn’t exactly worried about the Bruins, but they seemed like a team that was due. It was nice to see the Wings come out and be able to win a somewhat ugly game.

by Zegarek88 on Nov 3, 2009 9:25 PM CST reply actions

Good win

caught a little bit of the game…maybe this team is on the way back despite a bunch of injuries

we seem to have gotten over that HURDLE

thanks for a great season Rockies!

LETS GO WINGS!

by TuLoRocks2008 on Nov 3, 2009 10:41 PM CST reply actions

I think they are sacrificing a little offense to work on the defensive end a bit more and I’m all for it. One thing I noticed in the last two games is that the Wings have been playing at full speed the whole game. Earlier in the season and also last year, they were trying to play the same way they did in 07-08. In that year, teams were content to sit back and focus on defense, which played right into Detroit’s hands in which they were able to pick apart other teams and dominate. Now the way you win in the NHL is to go full speed, full pressure all the time. That is how they played last night against the Bruins. They skated hard to every loose puck instead of being scared to go into the corners with an opponent on their back. Hopefully they can keep this style of play up, because they certainly do have the speed in their lineup to do it.

I’m much happier with 3-1 and 2-0 games than those crazy 5-4 and 6-5 shootouts in which whoever scores last will win.

by dewman8810 on Nov 4, 2009 7:47 AM CST reply actions