Detroit staves off late rally to down Edmonton

Hockey Betting Lines

11/21/2008 - Edmonton, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jiri Hudler tallied a pair of goals, including the eventual game-winner, as Detroit scored early and often before staving off a late Edmonton rally for a 4-3 victory.

Pavel Datsyuk had a goal for Detroit, which has won four in a row and six of seven overall. Tomas Kopecky lit the lamp for the Red Wings, who improved to an NHL-best 9-1-1 on the road. Chris Osgood stopped 31-of-34 shots for the win.

Lubomir Visnovsky registered a goal and an assist for the Oilers, who have dropped four of five. Andrew Cogliano and Sheldon Souray scored in defeat. Dwayne Roloson let in three goals on 10 shots and was yanked with 9:49 left in the first. Mathieu Garon came in and stopped 24-of-25.

The Red Wings got on the board 1:50 into the contest. Andreas Lilja took a one-timer from the high slot, but Roloson stopped it. The rebound, however, trickled to his left and Hudler was there to wrist the rebound over Roloson's glove for a 1-0 lead.

Detroit made it 3-0 later in the stanza as Datsyuk and Kopecky tipped in a rebound each 2:11 apart.

On the first, Brian Rafalski took a shot that was blocked but Datsyuk was there to tip in the rebound through the five-hole from inside the right circle for a 2-0 lead with eight minutes gone in the opening stanza.

The next saw Nicklas Lidstrom's shot get denied, but Kopecky was right there for a tip-in to make it 3-0.

The Oilers made it 3-1 with 6:41 left in the second period. As Detroit failed to clear the puck out of its zone, Cogliano skated towards the right side of the ice and gained control of the puck in the right circle. From there he skated in and slipped the disc into the net via the five-hole.

Hudler gave the Red Wings their three-goal lead back with 1:32 left in the middle frame. Derek Meech took a slap shot from the high slot which bounced off the glass and hit Garon in the back. As the puck was sitting next to the crease, Hudler wristed it into the cage for a 4-1 cushion.

During a 4-on-4 the Oilers pulled within two goals with 7:06 to go in the third. With Osgood out of position, the puck trickled into the slot where Visnovsky snapped it into the goal.

21 seconds later, with Valtteri Filppula in the penalty box for high-sticking, the Oilers closed within a goal as Souray's slap shot found its way to the twine.

Edmonton pulled its goalie late in the game for the extra skater, but Detroit didn't let up and held on for the victory.

Game Notes

The Red Wings recorded at least a point for the seventh straight game...Detroit has outscored opponents 21-13 over its last six wins. The Red Wings have also netted 38 goals in 11 road games this year...Shawn Horcoff became the 18th player in club history to skate in 500 games with Edmonton...Ales Hemsky now has 11 power play assists, which leads the NHL...Edmonton is 2-2-2 as the home team this year and will be off until next Wednesday, when it will host the Los Angeles Kings...Detroit had dropped three of four in Edmonton...The Oilers activated defenseman Ladislav Smid from injured reserve on Thursday. Smid was placed on injured reserve because of a concussion earlier in the month. He was hurt during a November 5 game against Columbus and had missed the last seven games. He has two assists in eight games this season...Detroit's Tomas Holmstrom didn't play because of back spasms and teammate Niklas Kronwall didn't play because of an undisclosed lower body injury.