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Friday, Mar. 10 8:00pm ET
Yzerman's first period carries Wings | |||||
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BOX SCORE
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Steve Yzerman wears the captain's "C" because he's a leader. He's also a scorer. Yzerman collected a goal and an assist in a span of 1:26 of the opening period Friday night to lead the Detroit Red Wings to a 3-1 victory over the Nashville Predators and extend their unbeaten streak to six games. "It's the sticks. I'm going to start using his sticks," Detroit defenseman Steve Duchesne said, smiling. "He's so quiet, you just want to follow him everywhere on the ice." The 34-year-old captain has 29 goals this season and 621 lifetime. The loss was the Predators' sixth in their last seven games. At 16:59 of the opening period, Detroit's Pat Verbeek pounded in the rebound of Yzerman's power-play shot at the left post. The puck hit traffic in front of the goal and dropped at Verbeek's feet. Nashville left wing Patric Kjellberg tied the score at 17:27 when he intercepted a Wings clearing pass near the left circle and skated in alone on Detroit goaltender Chris Osgood. Kjellberg beat him with a backhander for his 22nd goal in 68 games. Osgood made 23 saves to earn his 25th win. Yzerman scored on an end-to-end rush at 18:25 of the first, putting a backhand through Nashville goalie Mike Dunham's legs from the left side to put the Wings back up 2-1. The Wings captain saw that as a turning point, based on some bad memories of earlier visits to Music City. "Here in this building they've scored goals in bunches against us," Yzerman said. "The fans get pretty excited." The Predators failed to convert on a brief two-man advantage in the third period before giving up a shorthanded goal to Kirk Maltby. Maltby ripped a slap shot past Dunham from the right circle 2:56 into the third to complete the scoring. Of Maltby's 51 career goals, six are shorthanded and just two are power-play tallies. "Kirk is a great player for us," Yzerman said. "He's a quiet guy who's content to play a role. He's a great skater with an excellent shot." Special teams were disastrous for the Predators, who finished 0-for-5 on the power play and surrendered Maltby's shorthanded goal as well as Verbeek's power-play score. Nashville was also held to just two shots in its own building in the third period. "Scotty (Bowman) is getting in his playoff mode," Predators coach Barry Trotz said. "Once they got up two goals, they put the defensive blanket on us, and they're the highest (scoring) offensive team in the NHL." Detroit has a league-leading 229 goals in 69 games. "They're a great team, and they're not easy to score against," Predators center Greg Johnson said. | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard Detroit Clubhouse Nashville Clubhouse RECAPS Montreal 3 Buffalo 2
Detroit 3
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