Wings Claim Presidents’ Trophy with Shutout of Oilers

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19 years ago

The Detroit Red Wings claimed their NHL-record fifth Presidents’ Trophy on Tuesday as a 2-0 win over the Edmonton Oilers gave them a 55-15-8 record, guaranteeing them the top spot in the league at the end of the season.

The win also gave the Red Wings 118 points on the season, good for second-best in franchise history.

The shutout was Detroit goalie Manny Legace’s seventh of the season and set a new team record for shutouts in a single campaign. Legace made 29 saves in the effort.

Playing in his first game with the Red Wings while filling in for the injured Robert Lang, Donald MacLean scored the game’s first goal to get Detroit on the board.

With the Red Wings on the power play, Mikael Samuelsson fired a long shot on net and Niklas Kronwall picked at the rebound. The puck came loose to the side of the crease and MacLean was open to pick it up and throw it past Edmonton netminder Dwayne Roloson at 9:46 of the first.

After a scoreless second period, Kris Draper gave Detroit an insurance goal just 19 seconds into the third.

A good bounce off the boards in front of the Detroit bench on a clearing attempt got Draper the puck in behind most of the Edmonton defense. In on a two-on-one, Draper faked a couple times, freezing Roloson and firing a shot past him.

Roloson finished the night with 25 saves on 27 shots while taking the loss.

Detroit went one-for-six on the power play, with most of their chances coming early in the game while the Oilers took the first four penalties of the match. Edmonton had five power plays on the night, including one spanning the game’s final nine seconds.

The Red Wings will be back in action on Thursday when they visit the Chicago Blackhawks.

Steve Yzerman was held without a point, ending his scoring streak at eleven games… Henrik Zetterberg returned to the lineup after sitting out Detroit’s win over Columbus on Saturday… Valtteri Filppula was sent back to the Grand Rapids Griffins after taking Zetterberg’s spot in the lineup on Saturday.