Red Wings forward Johan Franzen celebrates his goal on Oilers goalie Nikolai Khabibulan during tonight's game at Joe Louis Arena. / JULIAN H. GONZALEZ/DFP
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The Sports Network TSN
Detroit, MI (Sports Network) - Detroit just cannot be beaten at home this
season.
Goals in the third period by Drew Miller and Henrik Zetterberg helped the Red
Wings extend their home winning streak to 18 games in a 4-2 win over the
Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday.
It's been over three months since Detroit last dropped a home contest -- a
loss to Calgary on November 3 -- as the team has the longest home winning
streak since the 1975-76 Philadelphia Flyers notched a league-tying 20
straight wins at The Spectrum.
Detroit is now 21-2-1 at Joe Louis Arena this season.
Cory Emmerton and Johan Franzen also scored while Joey MacDonald posted 15
saves for the Red Wings, who had gone 2-2-1 on a five-game road trip.
Edmonton center Sam Gagner continued his recent tear with two goals in the
loss and now has eight in his past four games. Including an eight-point effort
against Chicago last Thursday, he now has eight goals and seven assists during
a five-game point streak.
Nikolai Khabibulin allowed all four goals on 30 shots for the Oilers, who have
lost their past two games.
Gagner had tied the game earlier in the third, but the Red Wings went on top
with 9:14 to play as a wrist shot from Justin Abdelkader in the slot was
stopped by Khabibulin, but it sat behind him and he couldn't find it before
Miller jammed it in.
Zetterberg gave the Red Wings some insurance when he pounced on a rebound in
the slot and slid to the left before putting a wrister into the net with 5:16
left.
Detroit scored on the power play at the 13:18 mark of the first when Ian White
used a slap-pass from the high slot to get the puck down low to Franzen, who
redirected it into the net for his 21st of the year.
It was a 2-0 game 2:45 into the second when Abdelkader brought the puck out
from the deep boards and got a shot on net that was stopped, but Emmerton was
in front to clean up the rebound.
The hottest man in hockey, though, made it a one-goal game with 8:52 to play
in the second as Gagner got the puck near the Detroit blue line and nearly
lost control of it, but avoided the poke-check attempt from MacDonald and
lifted a backhand into the net.
Gagner struck again at the 8:23 mark of the third while Edmonton was on the
power play. Magnus Paajarvi grabbed a bad Detroit pass inside the right circle
and made a power move to the front. MacDonald stopped Paajarvi's shot, but
Gagner swooped in to backhand home the rebound to tie the game.
Game Notes
Detroit hosts Anaheim on Friday...The Oilers play in Ottawa on
Saturday...Detroit took three of the four games against Edmonton this
season...Detroit was 1-for-4 on the power play while Edmonton went 1-for-7.
The Sports Network