ST. LOUIS
Steve Yzerman moved past his boyhood idol Bryan Trottier for 10th
place on the NHL career point list as the Red Wings roller over the
the St. Louis Blues 6-2.
Yzerman's goal and assist gave him 1,426 points, one more than
Trottier. Yzerman wears number 19 in honor of Trottier. "Bryan
Trottier was my favorite player," Yzerman said. "As soon as he came
into the league I followed his entire career. In some ways I tried
to play like he did. I've had the opportunity to meet him, and in
my mind he is one of the best players ever. We all have role
models, and he's mine."
Yzerman tied Trottier with an assist on Slava Kozlov's goal, the
last of Detroit's four first-period goals. He then moved ahead of
his hero in the last minute of the second period when he completed
an end-to-end rush that gave the Red Wings a 6-0 lead with a sweet
move.
The Grind Line had a good game, as well. Joey Kocur scored the first
two goals and Maltby had three assists for the Red Wings, who have
won two straight after a four-game losing streak. Kris Draper scored
the third goal. Kocur hadn't scored a goal in his last 41 regular
season games, since last Dec. 31, while Draper, who also had an
assist, had no points and Maltby no assists this season before
Wednesday.
Defenseman Larry Murphy, who assisted on Yzerman's goal, played in
his 1,411th career game to tie Harry Howell for second place among
defensemen. Tim Hotrod tops the list at 1,446. An incredible
milestone that should be passed barring any injury by the end of
the season.
The win was an important win for the struggling Wings. It put them
and Blues tied on top of the Central Division with 16 points each.
DALLAS
For one night at least, the Detroit Red Wings didn't belong on the
same ice with the rival Dallas Stars. Ignited by Joe Nieuwendyk's
goal just seven seconds into the game, the Stars took their second
win in two meetings this season between last spring's Western
Conference finalists.
But this victory was much more convincing than Dallas' 3-2 home win
on Oct. 31 over the Red Wings. It was just the Stars' second win in
their last 21 games at Joe Louis Arena.
Darren McCarty's goal was the only one of 35 shots that got past
Dallas goalie Ed Belfour. Chris Osgood allowed four goals on 14
first-period shots before Kevin Hodson replaced him to start the
second. Hodson finished with 13 saves. It was determined that
Osgood was playing with the flu.
The only suspense the Wings had in the game was seeing how the Wings
would avenge a first period hit from the Stars' Dan Keczmer that sent
Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman to the dressing room for stitches.
Keczmer elbowed Yzerman head first into the boards and, as Yzerman
slumped to the ice, McCarty went after Keczmer. McCarty drew a double
minor that led to Stars' goal.
Keczmer was a marked man the rest of the game, although no major
brawls occurred. Shades of Claude Lemieux all over again. Yzerman
twice drew roughing penalties trying to mix it up with Keczmer in
the third. "Stevie had to do that," Detroit's Brendan Shanahan
said. "He's a proud guy. He challenged. That's why everyone has so
much respect for him."
"They got one right off the bat and then got a 4-0 lead early,"
Yzerman said. "As good as Dallas is defensively, that can make it
very difficult."
"The fifth goal broke our backs," Shanahan said. "We felt if we
could make it a two-goal game after two periods we'd have a
legitimate shot. We had our chances in the second period."
The Stars return to Detroit in mid-December for a rematch.
CALGARY
The Wings have now lost six of their last eight games with the 5-3
loss to Calgary.
"We're turning the puck over far too much and giving teams easy
opportunities instead of forcing them to create chances," said Steve
Yzerman. "We're forcing the issue, forcing plays and trying to hit
home runs and teams are just sitting back and picking off the passes,
counter-attacking us and getting scoring chances off the turnovers."
Steve Yzerman, Uwe Krupp and Sergei Fedorov scored for the Red
Wings, who were playing catch-up all night. At one point after the
Flames had scored, coach Scotty Bowman pulled Osgood in favor of
Norm Maracle. The goalie change seemed to spark the Wings. Detroit
caught a bit of a break on its second goal when Krupp's point shot
deflected off a Calgary defenseman and past goalie Tyler Moss.
Osgood returned to the Detroit net at the start of the third
period. Too little to late as the Flames dominated the entire game.
EDMONTON
The Red Wings couldn't wait to get back to winning hockey. The
result was the Wings beating the Edmonton Oilers, 6-2. Captain
Steve Yzerman led the way with two goals and an assist as the Wings
scored three times in the first period.
"That was an exception for us," Red Wings defenseman Larry Murphy
said about Detroit's early jump. "We haven't played consistently
lately. In a lot of games, we sit around for the first half. We get
back into it late."
Yzerman, Aaron Ward and Slava Kozlov scored in the first period for
the Red Wings. Yzerman, Martin Lapointe and Sergei Fedorov
completed the scoring for the Wings. After Lapointe's goal, Yzerman
and Fedorov scored just over eight minutes apart in the third
period. Goalie Chris Osgood made 19 saves for the convincing win.
VANCOUVER
The Red Wings started third-string goalie Norm Maracle. He made 28
saves as the Red Wings defeated the Vancouver Canucks 4-2 to
complete their mini West Coast trip.
"Before the game I told Osgood in the room, 'I'm a little nervous. I
don't know if I can play in this league.' I had only played in a few
games and that was a few years ago. But it's good to come out and the
guys played really well and we got the win."
Sergei Fedorov, Brendan Shanahan, Steve Yzerman and Anders Eriksson
all scored for the Red Wings who are now 10-8-0 in the Central
Division. Unfortunately the Red Wings finished 0-for-6 on the power
play.
