Hudler and Cleary help Wings edge Canucks

Hockey Betting Lines

12/04/2008 - Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jiri Hudler and Daniel Cleary each scored a pair of goals to lead the Detroit Red Wings to a 6-5 win over the Vancouver Canucks as the two teams put an early wrap on their season series from Joe Louis Arena.

Nicklas Lidstrom had a goal and two assists while Derek Meech notched his first NHL goal for the Red Wings, who have won three of their last four games and continue to lead the Central Division with 38 points.

Chris Osgood allowed five goals on 25 shots but was the beneficiary of some potent Detroit offense as the club improved to 2-0 on its four-game homestand.

Henrik Sedin had a goal and assist while Taylor Pyatt, Kyle Wellwood, Mason Raymond and Alex Burrows each found the back of the net for the Canucks, who had handed the Red Wings a pair of defeats earlier this year, posting a pair of overtime wins while losing the other meeting by just one goal.

Vancouver netminder Roberto Luongo split his two starts versus Detroit this year, with Curtis Sanford getting the other win. Luongo, though, is currently on injured reserve due to a strained left groin, while Sanford left Monday's 3-2 loss to Columbus because of back spasms.

Sanford returned Thursday to allow six goals on 33 shots before being replaced by Cory Schneider early in the third. Schneider stopped all five shots he faced.

The Canucks have now lost the first three tests of their season-high seven- game road trip. Vancouver is 7-7-1 on the road this season and will play in Minnesota on Friday.

Meech skated around and behind the net to Sanford's left and stuffed in a wrap-around when the goaltender couldn't recover to give Detroit a 4-3 lead 3:23 into the third.

Just 50 seconds later, Marian Hossa fired a cross-ice pass from the right boards to a cutting Lidstrom, who skated in on net and beat Sanford five-hole to gain a quick two-goal lead.

The Wings kept applying pressure and capitalized on a power play less than two minutes later when Lidstrom's shot from the left point got caught up in some skates in front and Cleary chipped it in with a sweeping backhand to make it a 6-3 game and chase Sanford from the contest.

Daniel Sedin's slap shot from along the left boards handcuffed Osgood up around his neck and the rebound bounced into the slot where his brother Henrik snapped a shot into the net to cut the deficit to two at the 8:20 mark.

Kevin Bieksa let a rising shot go from the right point and Burrows tipped it past Osgood with 1:25 left but the Canucks took a penalty 11 seconds later and spent the remainder of the game in their own end.

Vancouver scored on its first shot of the game just 1:35 in as Pyatt took a feed from Shane O'Brien just inside the right circle and snapped off a quick shot that beat Osgood high and to the glove side.

Detroit had an answer, though, just past the five-minute mark as Valtteri Filppula picked up an errant Vancouver pass along the left boards and slipped the puck back into the slot for Tomas Kopecky, who dished off to Hudler at the left circle for the score into a wide open net with Sanford having already committed to Kopecky.

Hudler then made it a 2-1 game after taking a pass from Andreas Lilja at center ice -- splitting a pair of Canuck defenders -- before breaking in on Sanford and lifting a shot up and over the netminder's glove.

Sanford, however, was instrumental in keeping it a one-goal game, making several top-notch stops on a Red Wings 5-on-3 late in the frame.

Vancouver tied things up 1:32 into the second when Daniel Sedin sent a pass from behind the net and across the crease to Wellwood camped to Osgood's right for a shot that slipped past the goaltender on the short side 10 seconds into a power play.

Less than three minutes later Alexander Edler missed wide and to the left with a slap shot from the high slot but the carom off the boards came back out and to the right side where Raymond was able to bury the puck in the back of the net for a 3-2 Canucks lead.

The Wings evened the score, though, just after an expiring power-play chance with Lidstrom's slapper from the left point deflected in by Cleary 9:34 into the second period.

Game Notes

The Red Wings honored recent Hall of Fame inductee Igor Larionov prior to the game. A member of three Stanley Cup championship-winning teams (1997, '98, 2002), "The Professor" participated in a ceremonial puck dropping before the game...Detroit assigned defenseman Chris Chelios to Grand Rapids of the American Hockey League earlier Thursday on a conditioning assignment. Chelios has yet to play a game this season as he suffered a fractured right tibia in an exhibition game at Montreal on September 30...The Red Wings are 7-2-2 at Joe Louis Arena this year...Brian Rafalski and Valtteri Filppula each registered a pair of assists for Detroit...O'Brien and Daniel Sedin each had two assists for Vancouver.