CHICAGO -- Spreading the wealth on the scoresheet, the
Detroit Red Wings again had their way with the Chicago
Blackhawks.
Pavel Datsyuk and Mathieu Schneider had a goal and two assists
apiece as the Red Wings posted a 5-3 victory over the
Blackhawks.
Brendan Shanahan reached 30-goal mark for the 12th time in his
career for Detroit, which swept the home-and-home series and has
won all six matchups with Chicago this season. The Red Wings
(44-15-4) moved one point ahead of Carolina for the NHL's best
record.
"I wouldn't call it a special milestone because it's what I
expect from myself," Shanahan said. "Of course, once you get it,
you want to score more. As far as points go, it would be nice
to finish first, but we are just focused on playing the best
hockey we can."
Acquired from Pittsburgh on Thursday, defenseman Cory Cross
scored in his Red Wings debut with a one-timer from the slot
that beat goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin to the glove side at
1:49 of the first period.
"The last thing I thought was that I would score on my first
shift with the Red Wings," Cross said. "When you are open, these
guys will find you. I don't score a lot so I will take it."
Shanahan doubled the advantage by slipping Datsyuk's feed inside
the right goalpost for his 588th career tally.
"It was really important to get off to a quick start because you
will have times when the other teams come back like they did
tonight, so that lead really helped us," Shanahan said.
Just 2:51 later, Datsyuk scored his 25th goal on a breakaway,
shooting the puck inside the left post and chasing Khabibulin
for the second straight game.
"We came out flying and there are not many goalies in the league
who can stop the chances we had early," Shanahan said. "Datsyuk
on a breakaway is enough to scare any goalie."
"I can not argue with the decision to take me out," Khabibulin
said. "It's obviously (not) something that I like to go through
two nights in a row. It's a terrible feeling but what is done is
done."
Chicago got goals from Michael Holmqvist and Patrick Sharp to
draw within 3-2 at 5:26 of the second session, but Datsyuk
struck again at 3:40 of the third on a power play.
Datsyuk stole the puck from blue-liner Jim Vandermeer behind the
goal line and made a shovel pass to Henrik Zetterberg for his
33rd goal and a 4-2 lead.
After Mark Cullen scored to bring Chicago within 4-3 midway
through the period, Schneider became the sixth Red Wing to score
20 goals this season with a one-timer from the right circle
with 7:06 remaining.
"We have a lot of guys having career seasons," Red Wings coach
Mike Babcock said. "Even Schneider got his 20th and that is good
to see. But as a good as we have been offensively, we are
getting better defensively, too."
Osgood picked up his 15th victory by making 17 saves for the Red
Wings, who have won 11 of their last 13 games.
Craig Anderson stopped 21 shots after replacing Khabibulin for
Chicago, which has dropped eight of its last 10.
"I think it might be that we give these guys too much respect,"
Sharp said. "Nothing against Detroit, they are a great team. We
just can't go into a game spotting them three goals."