Detroit Red Wings Suffer Rare Shutout

It took two goalies to finally blank the Detroit Red Wings. Martin Brodeur took care of the New York Islanders all by himself. <br/><br/>Three years had passed since the Red Wings failed to score, but

Friday, February 9th 2007, 7:03 am

By: News On 6

It took two goalies to finally blank the Detroit Red Wings. Martin Brodeur took care of the New York Islanders all by himself.

Three years had passed since the Red Wings failed to score, but St. Louis netminders Manny Legace and Curtis Sanford teamed up Thursday night and carried the Blues to a 1-0 victory at home.

``A blind dog finds a bone once in a while,'' Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said after Detroit's first shutout loss since Jan. 7, 2004, in a 3-0 setback against Boston _ a string of 175 games. ``I mean, everything happens once in a while. Give them full credit. They worked hard. They had a game plan, they stuck to it.''

Brodeur recorded his NHL-best 10th shutout of the season and the 90th of his career, stopping 25 shots to lead the New Jersey Devils to a 2-0 victory over the Islanders. He moved within four shutouts of George Hainesworth for second place in NHL and 13 behind record-holder Terry Sawchuk.

``When you think about it, it's hard to believe it's that high,'' the 34-year-old Brodeur said. ``You never expect to do that, but that's where I am now.''

In other NHL games, it was: Columbus 2, Calgary 1; Carolina 5, Boston 2; Washington 4, Los Angeles 3 in overtime; Pittsburgh 5, Philadelphia 4 in a shootout; Ottawa 4, Montreal 1; Minnesota 4, Florida 2; Nashville 4, Toronto 2; and Atlanta 6, Colorado 3.

St. Louis challenged the Red Wings in the first period, taking advantage of a team that was playing for the third time in four days. The Blues held a 16-3 shots advantage in the opening 20 minutes, then netted the only goal of the game when Bill Guerin scored 5:01 into the second period.

``We got off to such a slow start and on back-to-back nights you can't get off to a slow start and give them more life,'' Babcock said.

Brodeur has made a career of taking that away.

The two-time Vezina Trophy winner is well on his way to another, and could skate off with an MVP award, too, if he keeps this up.

Jamie Langenbrunner scored in the first period, and Jay Pandolfo added a late short-handed goal for the host Devils. The rest was up to Brodeur.

``It's a full season of shutouts and then some,'' Langenbrunner said of Brodeur's total. ``It's pretty amazing the consistency, night in and night out.''

The loss overshadowed an outstanding 35-save performance by Islanders goalie Rick DiPietro, who posted his 11th NHL shutout Wednesday. It also marked the first time in nine games that New York failed to earn a point (5-1-3).

``This is a tough time for us. We need all these points,'' he said. ``If you are a little tired and don't feel you have your best game you have to play smarter, and that's what Jersey does so well and so consistently.''

The Red Wings never could've imagined there scoring streak would be stopped by a pair of goalies who have just 21 combined wins this season.

Legace stopped Detroit's first 10 shots but was forced out of the game shortly after Red Wings forward Tomas Holmstrom collided with him with 15:47 left in the second period. Sanford came in and made the final 13 saves for the Blues.

``I decided it's not good to face this,'' Legace said. ``Against these guys, if you're a second too slow, the puck will beat you. I thought it was better for the team to get me out of the net.''

Sanford hadn't played in two weeks.

``I'm just doing my job,'' he said. ``I'm glad I got a chance to play and do something good for the team.''

Penguins 5, Flyers 4, SO

At Philadelphia, Sidney Crosby scored the only goal in a shootout, sending the Flyers to a franchise-worst, 13th straight home loss.

Mike Knuble's second goal with 1:24 left in regulation forced overtime, and Simon Gagne had two power-play goals for Philadelphia, which has the fewest wins (13) and points (34) in the NHL. Flyers captain Peter Forsberg had three assists.

Mark Recchi and Erik Christensen scored 30 seconds apart early in the third period for the Penguins, who have won 10 of 12 with two overtime losses.

The Flyers haven't won at home since Nov. 24, and have just three victories there in 25 games.

Blue Jackets 2, Flames 1

At Columbus, Ohio, David Vyborny and Fredrik Modin ended the Blue Jackets' long scoring drought.

The Blue Jackets hadn't scored for 133 minutes and 26 seconds but overcame a 1-0 deficit with two goals in 47 seconds in the third period. Columbus ended a three-game skid.

Hurricanes 5, Bruins 2

Ray Whitney had three goals and an assist for the visiting Hurricanes.

Carolina trailed 1-0 but scored four goals in the final 4:24 of the second period. Whitney needed only 1:40 to notch his second NHL hat trick. He helped set up Justin Williams' team-leading 28th goal with 2.6 seconds remaining in the period.

Rod Brind'Amour added an empty-net goal and three assists for Carolina.

Brandon Bochenski scored twice for Boston, which dropped its fourth straight at home.

Capitals 4, Kings 3, OT

At Washington, Dainius Zubrus poked in a rebound 2:28 into overtime for the Capitals.

Boyd Gordon, Ben Clymer and Chris Clark also scored for the Capitals, and Alex Ovechkin earned a second-period assist to end the longest scoring drought of his young career _ he had gone three games without a point.

Anze Kopitar, Alexander Frolov and Lubomir Visnovsky scored for the Kings, who lost to the Capitals on the road for the first time in nearly nine years.

Wild 4, Panthers 2

At St. Paul, Minn., Brent Burns had a goal and an assist in the third period and Niklas Backstrom made 41 saves for the Wild.

Predators 4, Maple Leafs 2

Steve Sullivan scored a power-play goal and assisted on another as the Predators beat the Maple Leafs.

David Legwand, Jean-Pierre Dumont and Vernon Fiddler added goals for Nashville, which won its eighth straight at home.

Thrashers 6, Avalanche 3

At Denver, Karlis Skrastins will remember Colorado's loss to Atlanta for more than just breaking Tim Horton's durability record for a defenseman.

Garnet Exelby's first goal of the season glanced off Skrastins and went right past Avalanche goalie Jose Theodore, who was pulled after allowing three goals on 11 shots in the first period.

Skrastins broke Horton's NHL record for consecutive games by a defenseman when he played in his 487th straight in the regular season.

Senators 4, Canadiens 1

At Ottawa, Dany Heatley scored his team-high 32nd goal early in the second period and Peter Schaefer scored during a power play later in the period for the Senators.