Wings Kill Predators 6-2, Hossa Drops the Gloves

For anyone still wondering why Detroit is the defending Stanley Cup champions they need only look to the 6-2 thumping they gave the Nashville Predators on Wednesday night, where they scored five times on the power-play and emphatically brought their two-game losing streak to an end.

Nicklas Lidstrom and Johan Franzen, who missed the last five games with a banged up hand, each scored a pair and Jiri Hudler netted his 20th of the season to help propell the Wings past their Central rivals. Henrik Zetterberg also scored.

“I thought we got off to a good start, scoring a couple of power-play goals right off the bat,” Lidstrom said. “We really put pressure on them, and I thought our penalty killing was better. Overall, I thought when we had the puck, we were hanging on to it down low, and the forwards were really back checking hard, not giving them any time with the puck.”

Click Here For Game Highlights

But the story of the night happened when Marian Hossa, Detroit’s leading scorer, dropped the gloves midway through the third period with Nashville’s Ryan Suter.

The fight happened after Dan Hamhuis took a run at Jiri Hudler, prompting a chat at center ice between himself and Johan Franzen. This would bring Suter and Hossa together, at which point both players willingly went at it. Neither guy got any good punches in, but Hossa’s willingness to stand up for his teammates helped endear himself to a fan base that has already fallen in love with him. Said Nicklas Lidstrom about Hossa’s little scrap:

“He jumped in there and was defending his teammates, and I think that’s great to see, even though we don’t want to see him get hurt. He does it all.”

Hossa ended up getting ejected from the game for not having his jersey tied down and skated off to a standing ovation from the crowd.

Hossa’s Fight

Detroit was relentless in its attack on Nashville goalie Dan Ellis and led 4-2 at the end of the second period. Steve Sullivan scored both Nashville goals.

“I think we’re getting better, and that’s real important,” head coach Mike Babcock said. “I thought we had a good game. I thought we pushed hard. Our team is starting to play.”

It was Detroit’s first five-power-play-goal game since December 9th, 2006.

“I can’t recall that (five power-play goals). It’s great to see the offense clicking, especially we had the power play going,” Lidstrom said. “I thought we had great puck movement out there and a lot of motion, too. It’s tough to defend when we can do those things together.”

Added Nashville head coach Barry Trotz:

“If they get two power-play goals against us, they usually win. They get five, they always win.”

Detroit is back in action on Friday against Anaheim.

Posted by Paul Benvin on Feb 19 2009. Filed under Central, Detroit Red Wings, Nashville Predators, Western Conference. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.