Detroit Gets Happy Homecoming with 2-0 Win Against Boston

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It’s good to be home.

After a five-game road trip that saw Detroit pick up six out of a possible 10 points, it looked like the Red Wings were happy to be back in Joe Louis Arena.

Detroit got two first-period goals on its way to a 2-0 victory against Boston on Tuesday night.

The first period was mostly a strong defensive effort from both sides and especially Wings goalie Chris Osgood.

Neither team was able to get much of a rhythm going, and there must have been six stoppages in the first four minutes alone. Hits, shot blocks and nifty stick work defined most of the frame.

Henrik Zetterberg opened the scoring just two seconds into a first-period power play for the Wings. Despite Patrice Bergeron winning the faceoff for Boston, Zetterberg skated behind him and took a slap at the puck while it was on its side.

Boston goalie Tim Thomas barely saw the puck fly past him.

Two amazing passes contributed to Detroit’s second goal. Todd Bertuzzi took his time and looked down the ice before launching a puck to Pavel Datsyuk just in front of the blue line.

The puck bounced off the Russian’s stick, and he decided to flick the puck behind him to avoid the three Bruins chasing him.

Thomas came out of the net as well, and Tomas Holmstrom had a wide-open target to shoot at for his eighth goal of the year.

After that, it was all defense. The Red Wings stopped a Boston power play the third period, but the Bruins were kept relatively quiet.

All that worked out to generate Osgood’s first shutout of the season after he made 26 saves.

Things still aren’t perfect in Hockeytown, but Tuesday night’s team looked a lot like one that can go deep in the playoffs.

The defense was outstanding, the power play connected and the penalty kill was flawless. There’s plenty of time, but it appears the Wings are moving in the right direction.

Five more observations

1. The new guy. Doug Janik played his first game for Detroit after being called up from Grand Rapids before the game. He’s wearing the No. 37 jersey, Mikael Samuelsson’s number from last season. He logged nearly 14 minutes of ice time.
2. Huge kill. The Bruins had a third-period power play that Detroit completely blanketed. Boston had the puck in the offensive zone for more than the entire first minute and never got a clear shot away.
3. Thank you, come again. Tuesday night was Detroit’s only game against Boston this season. The next time these teams could theoretically meet? The Stanley Cup finals. The next likely meeting? Some time in 2010 or 2011 in the TD Garden. They haven’t met in the playoffs since 1957.
4. Boston’s winning ways. Overheard an interesting stat on the play-by-play: Boston is the only team this decade to have a winning record against Detroit. How about that? Didn’t matter on Tuesday night, however.
5. Lineup of backups. No Brad May, no Brian Rafalski, no Jonathan Ericsson, no Valtteri Filppula. Instead, Detroit did fine with Jarik, Derek Meech and Justin Abdelkader.

Player of the game: Osgood. Congrats to the veteran goaltender on his first shutout of the season and 50th of his career.

Word of the game: Homecoming. The Red Wings fans were clearly happy to see their team back in Detroit for the first time in two weeks. The Wings responded with a 2-0 blanking of Boston.

Up next: San Jose, Thursday, 7:30 p.m.

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