Red Wings Continue Streak with Win over Mighty Ducks

The Detroit Red Wings extended their winning streak to four games with a 3-1 victory over the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim on Wednesday night.

With the Mighty Ducks fighting to make the playoffs and the Red Wings battling for the top spot in the league, the defenses dominated the game.

Kris Draper’s empty-net goal with ten seconds remaining in the game was the only goal not scored during the first period of play.

Henrik Zetterberg opened the game’s scoring just 1:00 in, fighting off Jeff Friesen at the blue line and skating into the right circle before whipping a shot off the far post and behind Anaheim netminder Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

With Detroit on a five-on-three at 10:45 of the period, Mathieu Schneider wired a shot from the high slot to the corner of the net as Tomas Holmstrom screened Giguere.

The Ducks got on the board with a power play goal of their own with 5:44 remaining in the period. Scott Niedermayer sent a crossing pass from behind and to the right of Detroit goalie Chris Osgood and Teemu Selanne was left alone to bang home a shot from the opposite side of the net.

The goalies were key in the game with Osgood stopping 25 of 26 shots in the second of rare consecutive starts. Giguere made 26 saves on the 28 shots he faced.

Detroit finished the game one-for-four on the power play, with Anaheim going one-for-six.

The Red Wings now head on the road for a short Western Canada trip. They will visit the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday and the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday.