Belfour Holds Wings to Tie with Leafs

The Detroit Red Wings played one of their best games of the exhibition season, but incredible goaltending by Toronto Maple Leaf Ed Belfour held the Wings to only one goal and a tie Saturday night.

“Belfour looked like he was in playoff form,” Detroit head coach Dave Lewis said.

The Red Wings looked closer to regular season form than they have in any of their exhibitions thus far.

“I saw us thinking as units, defending, we were all on the same page attacking,” Lewis said. “We got better as the game went on. There were a lot of good things.”

Pavel Datsyuk scored Detroit’s lone goal, tying the game at 4:26 of the second period. Brett Hull made a backhand pass to Datsyuk skating through the slot. Datsyuk then faked out Belfour and slipped the puck into the open net.

“Brett has such great vision,” Lewis said. “His passing is as good as his shot.”

Toronto’s Mikael Renberg opened the scoring in the first period with a shorthanded goal.

The Red Wings play their final exhibition tonight in Toronto.