Cujo Ready And Set

Curtis Joseph stopped thirty-five of thirty-six shots, and Nick Lidstrom posted a shorthanded goal, but a slow-to-start Red Wings offense couldn’t quite get past the Chicago Blackhawks. The two teams ended the pre-season with a 1-1 tie at Joe Louis Arena.

The Blackhawks held the Red Wings to only four shots on goal in the entire first period, in spite of a four minute Detroit power play resulting from a double penalty to Alexei Zhamnov for interference and slashing. Curtis Joseph, meanwhile, was brilliant in his net, stopping all twelve of the shots Chicago sent at him in the first period.

The Red Wings managed to generate some more offensive effort in the second period, but were still outshot by the Blackhawks. The first goal of the game came towards the end of the period when the Wings were shorthanded. Sergei Fedorov got the puck down the ice and carried it around the Chicago net and into the left corner. When four of the Blackhawks went towards him, Fedorov dropped a pass back to Nick Lidstrom coming up in the high slot. A quick one-time shot right past rookie goaltender Michael Leighton, and the Wings were in the lead.

Chicago tied the game back up early in the third period. Nathan Dempsey shot the puck towards the net. The shot was blocked, but the puck went back to Dempsey, so he angled it behind the net to Steve Sullivan. Sullivan’s quick shot hit Joseph on the back of the leg and went into the net before anyone could stop it.

The game headed to overtime, but the teams couldn’t break the tie.

The Red Wings begin the regular season with a West Coast road trip. They open against the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night before continuing on to Los Angeles and Anaheim.

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The players seem to be glad the preseason is coming to an end. “This camp seemed like it was long for whatever reason,” said Kris Draper before the game. “We’ve got one more game left — let’s go play it and the bottom line is, remain healthy.”… Defenseman Patrick Boileau was sent to the Grand Rapids Griffins on Friday, leaving only two more cuts to be made to get the roster down to twenty-three players. The likely cuts will be either Derek King, Stacy Roest, or Doug Brown. Coach Dave Lewis planned to make his decision after tonight’s game.