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Iced Tea · 10-12-2003, 01:22 AM

Got the following from TSN's website,

Quote:

Lidstrom's OT winner downs Senators

Canadian Press

10/11/2003

OTTAWA (CP) - Giving the Detroit Red Wings eight power-play chances is bound to cause trouble for any team.

The Red Wings beat the Ottawa Senators 3-2 Saturday night when Nicklas Lidstrom scored a power-play goal at 2:52 of overtime.

"You're asking for trouble when you give up that many power plays, it tires you out and it gives away the momentum," said Ottawa defenceman Wade Redden. "We had a pretty good game and did some things well.

"We'll take the point."

Steve Yzerman and Tomas Holmstrom also scored for the Red Wings, who got 21 saves from Dominik Hasek in their second straight win.

Jason Spezza and Radek Bonk replied for the Senators, who got some good news when restricted free agent winger Martin Havlat signed a one-year deal with the club.

Patrick Lalime made 16 saves.

The game had been billed as a potential preview of the Stanley Cup final and the 18,500 at the Corel Centre weren't disappointed.

The two teams played exciting end-to-end hockey, the superstars created some excellent scoring chances and the goaltenders were solid stopping them.

The Red Wings were given the man advantage when Zdeno Chara was called for interference 55 seconds into overtime.

Henrik Zetterberg won a battle along the boards, passed to Brett Hull who saw Lidstrom alone at the blue-line. He fired a shot past Lalime.

"I was walking the line and looking for Brett (Hull) to pass it back to," said Lidstrom. "I don't think the goalie saw it until the last second."

Despite the loss the Senators were able to find some positives from the game.

Spezza continues to develop with every passing shift, Lalime looked solid against an all-star lineup and the team was able to come back and tie the game. The biggest disappointment was the number of penalties they took.

"It's tough when you're in the box that much with the lineup they have," said Spezza. "I think we showed we can play with them. We showed the character we have and maybe if we hadn't been shorthanded so often things would have been different. We've got to build off it."

The Red Wings finished the game 3-for-8 with the man advantage, while the Senators were 1-for-5.

"There were a lot of penalties and I thought there were a lot of bad calls," said Detroit winger Brendan Shanahan. "We got a couple of cheap power plays early in the game and they got some later on. They got the last penalty of the game and we were able to cash in."

Holmstrom opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 16:59 of the first period, beating Lalime on his backhand after he picked up Mathieu Schneider's rebound at the top of the crease.

The Red Wings extended their lead with a second power-play goal at 5:45 of the second period.

Lalime stopped Shanahan's point shot with the handle of his stick, but Yzerman jumped ahead and knocked the puck in as it lay in the crease for his second goal in as many games.

The Senators cut the lead in half 1:04 later as Spezza scored on a costly giveaway by Chris Chelios, who attempted to clear the puck from behind his own net.

Instead, the puck went right to Spezza's stick and he roofed it over Hasek's left shoulder.

The Senators tied things 2-2 on a two-man advantage with 8:34 remaining in the third period. With Jiri Fischer and Ray Whitney in the penalty box, Daniel Alfredsson passed to Marian Hossa, who found Bonk in front for a quick re-direction past Hasek.

The point allowed Alfredsson to tie Alexei Yashin for the Senators all-time lead with 491 points.

Notes: Ottawa LW Todd White was sidelined with a left shoulder strain and C Mike Fisher remains out of the lineup with a right elbow injury. ... D Shane Hnidy and Brian Pothier were healthy scratches for the second straight game...The Senators assigned RW Jody Hull to their AHL affiliate in Binghamtom following Saturday's game. ... G Curtis Joseph, D Jason Woolley and C Jiri Hudler were healthy scratches for the Red Wings.

Rule #1 - don't get penalties especially in overtime because Detroit has a scary powerplay unit. Even worse is their penalty killing unit.

Overall I thought the second half of the game was better than the first half. The Sens showed why they are a top team by coming back to tie the Red Wings. Its a shame a questionable call in overtime ruined any chance the Sens had of winning the game in OT. Spezza continues to impress me and Lalime played well.

Hasek shows no signs of rust from taking a year off to follow his dream of becoming the "Wayne Gretzky of roller hockey".