OZZFEST ROCKS! Osgood notches 4th win, 2nd assist of season
DETROIT 5, SAN JOSE 1
OZZFEST ROCKS! Osgood notches 4th win, 2nd assist of season
October 27, 2007
BY GEORGE SIPPLE
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER
Red Wings goaltender Chris Osgood earned his second victory and second assist over the San Jose Sharks this season as he remained unbeaten in four starts.
Osgood faced three shots in each of the first two periods and finished with 10 saves in a 5-1 victory over San Jose Sharks on Friday night at Joe Louis Arena.
I don't mind if it's 30 or 11," Osgood said of the shots he faces. "The main thing is we're winning games, playing better defensively than we were at the start of the year. That's the key for us."
Osgood was credited with an assist on Valtteri Filppula's goal, which opened the scoring at 1:23 of the first. Osgood also notched an assist in his last game, a 4-2 victory at San Jose on Oct. 18.
Filppula and defenseman Andreas Lilja scored their first goals of the season to stake the Wings to a 2-0 lead in the first period, then the first line took over in third.
Tomas Holmstrom scored his eighth goal 39 seconds into the third period to give the Wings a three-goal cushion, then assisted on Henrik Zetterberg's eighth goal of the season at 8:12.
Pavel Datsyuk did most of the work, carrying the puck into the offensive zone and drawing two defenders toward him in the circle. He lost control of the puck, but Zetterberg was there to knock it into an open net. The Sharks pulled Evgeni Nabokov afterward, but Kirk Maltby scored his third goal of the season 22 seconds later against goaltender Dimitri Patzold.
Holmstrom should have scored his ninth goal at 15:10 after he tipped in a shot by Zetterberg, but the officials blew it by disallowing the goal and penalizing Holmstrom for goaltender interference. The subsequent power-play chance led to a goal by Alexei Semenov at 14:08, and Wings fans booed throughout the remainder of the game.
It was a dominating performance from start to finish for the Wings (8-2-1). The Wings outshot the Sharks, 13-3, in the first period and 39-11 for the game.
"I thought we had the puck a lot and I thought we were on the attack a lot," said coach Mike Babcock. "I don't care if you're coaching 12-year-olds like my son plays or you're coaching here -- your best defense is when you're playing (in) the offensive zone. You don't have to be very good in your own zone when you're playing in their zone.
"Ozzie was good early. I thought tonight's game (was) a game of momentum. ... Ozzie was there for some saves, then we took the game back."
Filppula, who hadn't scored a point in the first 10 games of the season, scored 83 seconds into the game and assisted on Lilja's goal at 15:31.
"He's a really good player, and he's going to take off here and we all know that," Babcock said. "We just needed to give him some time to get rolling."
Nicklas Lidstrom's shot went off the skate of a defender. Holmstrom gained control and fired a slap shot past Evgeni Nabokov for his 12th point in 11 games.
Osgood will get a chance to continue his unbeaten streak and his assist streak Sunday when the Wings visit Vancouver. Goaltender Dominik Hasek won't play in that game because of hip irritation.
Osgood has 15 assists in 625 career games. He ranks third among active goaltenders in scoring behind New Jersey's Martin Broduer (28 points) and Hasek (19).