Red Wings Snap Slump Against Blackhawks

The Detroit Red Wings beat the Chicago Blackhawks for the first time in five games this season on Sunday, earning a 3-1 win to end the losing streak to their divisional foe.

Through the first four matchups with Chicago, Detroit had gone -3-1, with the shootout loss coming in the second game of the season.

Detroit got the victory on Sunday with three goals in the first period, including one by Henrik Zetterberg just 50 seconds into the game.

Jiri Hudler gained the Chicago zone on the right wing and sent the puck across the ice to Andreas Lilja, who had joined the rush. Lilja snapped a pass to the middle, where Zetterberg was in behind the defense and right in front of goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin. Zetterberg’s quick move beat the Russian goalie and got the Wings on the board early.

Dan Cleary put Detroit up by a pair with 5:54 left in the period, snapping a shot from in close past Khabibulin after taking a pass in the slot from Pavel Datsyuk.

Mikael Samuelsson finished the Red Wings’ scoring with just nine seconds left in the period. With Detroit on a power play, Samuelsson fired a wrister from the bottom of the left circle that slipped past a screened Khabibulin.

Chicago got on the board exactly twenty minutes later, scoring with nine seconds left in the second period when Rene Bourque tipped a Tuomo Ruutu blast past Detroit netminder Chris Osgood.

Osgood finished the night with 19 saves on 20 shots. Khabibulin stopped 25 of 28 Detroit chances.