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BOX SCORE
UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) -- The Detroit Red Wings were not about to
lose two straight to last-place teams.
One day after the Red Wings played a bad third period and lost
to the Chicago Blackhawks, Chris Osgood stopped 22 shots as Detroit
beat the New York Islanders 2-0 Monday.
|  | | Detroit's Tomas Holmstrom, left, looks for a rebound in front of Islanders goalie Kevin Weekes. |
"It's important to get shutouts," Osgood said. "We want to
start with trying to get one shutout period and move on from
there."
Tomas Holmstrom scored on the power play and rookie Yuri Butsayev also had a goal for the Red Wings, who snapped a two-game
losing streak and remained three points behind Central Division-leading St. Louis which beat Anaheim.
"We were very upset with ourselves and we came out with a very
solid and respectable win," said Brendan Shanahan, originally
credited with Detroit's first goal.
The Islanders, last in the Atlantic Division with 42 points,
have been playing their best hockey of the season. In the past week
they earned a tie in Philadelphia and a victory in New Jersey -- two
of the top three teams in the Eastern Conference.
"We know they work really hard and they just had a couple of
big games," Shanahan said. "We didn't take these guys lightly at
all. We had a lot of respect for them coming in and we played that
way."
The shutout was Osgood's fourth this season and second in five
starts. With his 27th shutout, Osgood, who has stopped 108 of the
last 116 shots against, broke a second-place tie with Harry Lumley
on the Red Wings' career list.
"We played well," Osgood said. "We didn't play really good in
Chicago and we had to play a good game. They were coming off a tie
against Philly and beat New Jersey, two tough games, and we knew we
were in for a good fight."
Islanders goalie Kevin Weekes continued his sharp play with 39
saves, but was the hard-luck loser. In five games, Weekes has
allowed only nine goals on 178 shots and is 3-1-1.
"He's shown remarkable consistency in his game," Islanders
coach Butch Goring said. "It's one thing to play with the lead,
it's another thing when you're behind and have to keep us in the
game. He's been doing both."
New York's Mariusz Czerkawski, playing in his 400th career game,
saw his career-high 13-game point streak end in the loss.
"Of course I'm disappointed," Czerkawski said. "At the same
time I'm disappointed at losing the game. I don't think we had the
same motion or energy we had against New Jersey."
Detroit center Sergei Fedorov missed his second straight game
because of a bruised knee. Fedorov, injured in Friday's loss to Los
Angeles, is day-to-day.
Holmstrom gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead late in the opening
period. Steve Yzerman moved the puck into the right circle to
Shanahan, who circled back and fired a shot that Holmstrom
deflected past Weekes.
Holmstrom has 10 goals this season, three on the power play.
"We had to come out and try to play solid and I thought we did
that," Osgood said.
Detroit outshot New York 12-5 in the first. Osgood stopped two
point-blank attempts during a 3-on-2 in the last 15 seconds of the
frame. Osgood also made two good saves with 5:50 left in the second
to preserve the shutout.
"Czerkawski took a shot and hit my glove and the high guy
banged it and it hit me in the chest," Osgood said of the
first-period flurry. "He's been hot for them -- Czerkawski and that
line -- they're the guys we were trying to key on to try and
minimize the chances they were going to get."
The Red Wings improved in the second when they fired 17 shots at
Weekes and held the Islanders to six.
Butsayev made it 2-0 at 6:30 of the second when he got just
enough of the puck in a scramble in front of the net to trickle in
his fourth goal.
The Red Wings also had a goal disallowed early in the period
when Holmstrom backed into Weekes in the crease.
Islanders defenseman Eric Cairns returned from a four-game
suspension received for a locker room hallway fight with
Pittsburgh's Matthew Barnaby.
Detroit and New York will complete the home-and-home series, the
teams' only meetings this season, Friday night at Joe Louis Arena.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Detroit Clubhouse
NY Islanders Clubhouse
RECAPS
Washington 1
Carolina 1
Ottawa 4
Florida 2
Detroit 2
NY Islanders 0
Buffalo 3
New Jersey 2
Tampa Bay 2
Pittsburgh 1
Nashville 5
Dallas 2
Edmonton 6
Los Angeles 3
St. Louis 4
Anaheim 2
Vancouver 5
Boston 2
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Yuri Butsayev hits the game-winning goal.
avi: 770 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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