DETROIT 3, CHICAGO 2: Tough grind
DETROIT 3, CHICAGO 2: Tough grind
Kopecky out 10-12 weeks after injury
December 15, 2006
BY HELENE ST. JAMES
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER
CHICAGO -- Over the course of the season, the Red Wings have gotten used to the grind. Their days of routing are mostly over; far more often, games are close from start to finish.
Thursday at the United Center was another such affair: a 3-2 victory that saw the Wings protect a late lead, even as they played shorthanded.
The Wings got one injured forward back, in Johan Franzen, only to lose another, in Tomas Kopecky.
Kopecky was injured in the first minute of the third period, when he lost an edge and fell forward just as Jim Vandermeer went in for a check; Kopecky skidded into the boards, suffering a broken collarbone.
While the Wings flew to New York, where they'll stay before playing the New Jersey Devils on Saturday, Kopecky remained in Chicago; he was to undergo surgery today.
Coach Mike Babcock estimated Kopecky would miss 10-12 weeks.
"That's a big blow for a kid," Babcock said. "We just talked about him before the game, how we thought he could be a guy who gets maybe 10 goals for us. Now, obviously, he's not."
Henrik Zetterberg scored his team-leading 12th goal, and Dan Cleary kept pace, scoring his 11th. Mikael Samuelsson scored on a power play with 8:24 left, and the Wings hung on to improve to 9-6 in one-goal games.
"Close games, if you can win them, it helps your confidence," Dominik Hasek said. "Two-one, three-two, these are the games you need to win; in the playoffs, it's like that."
Hasek made 29 saves.
"The whole game, I felt pretty busy," Hasek said. "It feels good to come back after the game we lost at home. It's the first time I face 30-plus shots, so it feels even better if you win a game like that."
Jeff Hamilton scored the first goal for Chicago.
The Blackhawks had gone 5-0-3 since Denis Savard took over as head coach, but that success hasn't translated into attendance. Despite a game that featured as old and spirited a rivalry as there is in the NHL, section upon section stood mostly empty, from the upper bowl to the middle to the lower regions.
Fans who were on hand saw their team fall behind early despite a strong start. It took the Wings nearly four minutes to get a shot on goal, but when they did, they made it count: Pavel Datsyuk carried the puck into Chicago's zone and spun a pass behind his back to Zetterberg, who quickly got the puck past Nikolai Khabibulin at 3:57.
The Hawks tied it midway through the second period. Robert Lang turned the puck over when he was checked into the boards, creating a rush that ended with Hamilton's goal. But within two minutes Cleary replied, and the Wings had another lead. Samuelsson scored his third power-play goal of the season in the third period, but Tuomo Ruutu got it back to a one-goal situation with a goal-mouth shot with 6:10 remaining