DETROIT -- Defenseman Mathieu Schneider had another
memorable moment on the ice.
Schneider recorded his second career hat trick and Henrik
Zetterberg added a goal and an assist as the Detroit Red Wings
cruised to a 9-2 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes, who have lost
three straight games.
Mikael Samuelsson scored twice and Nicklas Lidstrom had three
assists for the Red Wings, who went 2-for-4 on the power play.
Detroit entered the contest 0-for-11 with the man advantage.
With the score knotted at 1-1 in the first period, Schneider
deflected a backhanded shot off goaltender Curtis Joseph's skate
13:48 into the session. Schneider tallied again 4:10 into the
second period for a two-goal cushion.
"He (Schneider) can shoot the puck," coach Mike Babcock said.
"He scored on a couple of seeing-eye shots tonight. He's a big
help on the power play. Nick (Lidstrom) slides the puck to him
and he finds the net with it."
"For him (Schneider) to get one (hat trick) here at home is very
nice," Jason Williams said. "When he shoots the puck he gets
rid of it really quick and I think that it's good for him to get
a good start and help us out offensively."
After Williams added to lead with a power-play tally in the
second, Schneider found the net again with 4:31 to go in the
second.
"I got lucky on the early one (goal)," Schneider said. "On the
other two, he (Joseph) didn't have much chance. He was
screened."
"For him (Schneider) to get one (hat trick) here at home is very
nice," Jason Williams said. "When he shoots the puck he gets
rid of it really quick and I think that it's good for him to get
a good start and help us out offensively." Zetterberg's goal
5:26 into the contest, snapped the Red Wings' season-opening
struggles on the power play.
"As a team we just talked about throwing the puck at the net,
especially on the power play," Schneider said.
Dominik Hasek made 19 saves for Detroit.
Joseph turned away 22 shots prior to being replaced by Mike
Morrison.
"It wasn't much fun out there, there's no question about that,"
Phoenix coach Wayne Gretzky said. "They basically embarrassed
us as a team. I don't think that our team can get much lower
than this. They just dominated us in every aspect of the game
and they decisively beat us.
"It's not going to do much good ranting and raving and yelling
and screaming tonight." We've got to get back to basics here.
By basics I mean we can't even pass the puck five feet right
now. We just need to straighten all that out and go back to
square one."