Gorilla Crouch

Dominik Hasek was Detroit’s best player for two periods, en route to stopping 35 shots to lead Detroit to a 3-0 victory over Columbus. With the win and Nashville’s shootout loss to the Chicago Blackhawks, the Wings moved within one point of claiming their 7th straight Central Division title.

Hasek throws a surprise party for Geoff Platt
Paul Sancya - AP Photo

Kyle Calder and Todd Bertuzzi, who are eventually expected to play together on a line with Robert Lang, scored the first two goals. Calder’s came at the 0:16 mark of the third period when he hit Ron Hainsey and forced him to turn over the puck deep in his own zone. The Detroit forward gathered up the puck, cut around another Blue Jacket player and went to the net before putting the puck past Fredrik Norrena. Jiri Hudler and Robert Lang were on the ice with Calder for that goal.

Todd Bertuzzi provided Detroit with an insurance goal when Pavel Datsyuk showed great patience with the puck in the offensive zone before passing the puck to Bert as he drove towards the net. Bertuzzi’s first shot was stopped, but was able to bang the rebound past Norrena at the 17:36 mark. Valtteri Filppula was on the ice with both forwards.

Hasek shut the door and would have notched his second straight shutout against Columbus if not for a Rick Nash goal on Sunday with less than one minute left in the game. Dom was named the first star of the game. Bill Khan remarked that while the team isn’t playing great hockey for a full 60 minutes, Hasek has been very good this season:

The Wings’ effort wasn’t too comforting with the playoffs set to begin next week, but Hasek’s play certainly was. He was reacquired this season specifically for springtime hockey. He made several big saves while the game was 0-0 en route to his eighth shutout of the season.

Helene St. James reports in her blog that Henrik Zetterberg will not play before the first game of the playoffs. So his situation this year is similar to Pavel Datsyuk’s, but fortunately Zetterberg has been able to skate so he should be in good shape. Datsyuk couldn’t skate because of a severe charley horse that required having blood drained from the injured area.

Henrik Zetterberg Kyle Calder Pavel Datsyuk Red Wings Todd Bertuzzi

April 4th, 2007
Categories: Red Wings . Author: Dave

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