Red Wings blitz Wild in 4-1 road win
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The red-hot Detroit Red Wings scored a 4-1 road victory over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday, peppering the Wild net with 51 shots in an offensive blitz.
Detroit is 11-1-1 in its last 13 games and 26-7-3 on the season.
Goalie Dominik Hasek improved to 9-0-2 with a 1.00 goals against average against the Wild, a team the Red Wings dominate.
"They play with so much confidence against us," said Minnesota coach Jacques Lemaire. "That's the bottom line."
The 51 shots were a record against the Wild at home. Despite missing offensive standouts Henrik Zetterberg and Tomas Holstrom, the Red Wings rained down shots on Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom.
Marian Gaborik, who on Thursday became the first NHL player in a decade to score five goals in a game, was smothered by the Wings, held to two shots. He did have an assist and has eight goals and four assists during a seven-game point-scoring streak.
*The sizzling Buffalo Sabres pulled out a dramatic 6-5 road win over the Philadelphia Flyers when Thomas Vanek scored with 7.2 seconds left in regulation and Ales Kotalik had the only goal of a shootout.
*Alexander Ovechkin forced overtime with his 25th goal of the season with 54.8 seconds left in regulation, but Richard Park scored 3:43 into the OT to give the New York Islanders a 3-2 win over the visiting Washington Capitals.
*Patrick Sharp forced overtime with a third-period goal and then set up Jonathan Toews for the game winner 2:08 into overtime to give the Chicago Blackhawks a 4-3 road victory over the Ottawa Senators.
(Writing by Mike Shalin; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
