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Shanny Buries Three as Wings Crush Hawks
John Mullin4/13/2006
After clinching the best record in the National Hockey League on Tuesday, the Detroit Red Wings made it abundantly clear that their main priority in Thursday night’s game with the Blackhawks was to stay healthy. Despite starting only sixteen skaters, the Detroit offense came to play, picking up a 7-3 win over Chicago at the United Center.

Brendan Shanahan netted a trick for Detroit, taking a one goal lead over Henrik Zetterberg for the team lead with 39. Zetterberg netted two of his own in the contest.

Shanahan put the Red Wings on the board at the 3:12 mark of the opening period as Grand Rapids call-up and newly-named AHL Most Valuable Player Donald MacLean stole a puck along the end boards and made a nice pass in front of the net. Shanahan took the bouncing puck and buried it past Blackhawk Nikolai Khabibulin. Zetterberg extended the Detroit lead to 3-0 with two goals just 4:00 minutes apart, the first coming on a Nick Lidstrom shot miss that bounced off of the end boards feed just 0:21 after Shanahan’s tally.

Chicago tried to make a comeback, drawing within one as Kyle Calder picked up a shorthanded marker at 10:31, and a 5-on-3 goal from Radim Vrbata to open the second period. The Wings then stole the show, netting goals from Lidstrom, Shanahan, and Tomas Holmstrom in the period to take a 6-2 lead into the break. Khabibulin was yanked after allowing five goals on only 17 shots.

A Detroit miscue on a 5:00 power play led the Blackhawks a bit closer to the Red Wings as Patrick Sharp netted the second shorthanded marker of the game, his fourth goal against Detroit this season.

That, however, was as close as the Blackhawks would get as Brendan Shanahan iced the game with his third goal of the contest, a rebound off of the pad of Craig Anderson that popped out to Shanahan for the easy tally. The three-goal performance marks the 17th hat trick of Shanahan’s career.

The victory marks Detroit’s 11th consecutive win away from Joe Louis Arena, a new National Hockey League record. The Red Wings also extended their league-record road win total to 30 on the year.

Detroit goaltender Manny Legace (36-8) had a quiet night, but still managed 28 saves on 31 shots. Nikolai Khabibulin (16-25) took the loss for the Blackhawks.

Detroit will hope to get defenseman Mathieu Schneider and forward Robert Lang back for the Wings’ next game – a Saturday evening tilt with the St. Louis Blues. The puck drops at 8:00 from the Savvis Center. Unfortunately, they may have lost Jason Woolley, who left the game in the third period with an unknown injury.