head coach: Scotty Bowman

roster: C - Steve Yzerman, Igor Larionov, Kris Draper. LW - Brendan Shanahan, Vyacheslav Kozlov, Doug Brown, Tomas Holmstrom, Kirk Maltby, Brent Gilchrist, Daryl LaPlante. RW - Darren McCarty, Joey Kocur, Martin Lapointe. D - Nicklas Lidstrom, Bob Rouse, Slava Fetisov, Larry Murphy, Yan Golubovsky, Jamie Pushor, Aaron Ward, Anders Eriksson, Mathieu Dandenault. G - Chris Osgood, Kevin Hodson.

injuries: Kris Draper, c (dislocated thumb, three weeks); Brendan Shanahan, lw (groin, day-to-day); Aaron Ward, d (displaced fracture in right foot Dec. 3, one week).

transactions: Placed Kris Draper, c, on injured reserved; recalled Daryl LaPlante, lw, from Adirondack (AHL); re-signed Doug Brown, rw, to a new three-year contract.

standings:

Western Conference - Central Division
Team         GP   W   L   T   PTS   GF   GA   
Dallas       47  28  11   8    64  144   97  
Detroit      47  27  11   9    63  153  110  
St Louis     47  26  15   6    58  141  115  
Phoenix      46  20  18   8    48  128  123  
Chicago      44  16  19   9    41  102  102   
Toronto      43  14  22   7    35  103  129

game results:

12/16 at San Jose  L 5-1
12/17 at Colorado  T 2-2
12/19 New Jersey   W 5-4
12/22 at Boston    W 4-2
12/23 at Buffalo   W 3-1
12/26 Toronto      W 4-1      
12/27 at Toronto   W 8-1
12/29 Dallas       T 2-2
12/31 St. Louis    W 5-2
01/02 San Jose     L 4-1
01/04 at Chicago   L 3-1             
01/06 Phoenix      W 2-0
01/09 at Dallas    T 3-3
01/11 Washington   W 2-0

team news:

by Dino Cacciola, Detroit Correspondent

SAN JOSE: Goalie Mike Vernon made 24 saves against his former team in helping with a 5-1 victory over the Red Wings. It was the Sharks first regular season win over the Red Wings since April 2, 1996, and just their third in 25 games overall.

Goalie Kevin Hodson made 14 saves and winger Kris Draper scored the only goal for the Red Wings, who fell to 1-3-1 in their last five games. The Red Wings fell to 0-6-3 when trailing after two periods, and also were 0-for-6 on the power play.

Seems as though they were just going through the motions and were ready just to get out of town and onward to Denver for the much more anticipated game. Not to take anything away from the Sharks, who played a very good game, but the Wings seemed totally out of step from the get go. These kinds of games are going to happen I guess from time to time. Let's hope they are fewer and far between.

COLORADO: Arch rival Peter Forsberg scored the tying goal with 2:15 left in regulation and goaltender Craig Billington had another big game against the Red Wings with 38 saves, helping the Colorado Avalanche salvage a 2-2 tie with the Red Wings.

Each team had four shots in overtime, but both Chris Osgood and Billington were equal to the task. Claude Lemieux scored the other goal for Colorado. Brendan Shanahan and Tomas Holmstrom tallied for the Red Wings, who completed a winless road trip (0-1-2). Detroit is 1-3-2 following a six-game unbeaten streak.

"We were disappointed in the third period but we're not complaining," Detroit coach Scotty Bowman said. "We got three (actually two) points on his trip. If we fell behind it would've been tough to come back. We were lucky to get it tied in the third period."

Detroit outshot the Avs 40-28 in the game. Also featured was a rematch between Shanahan and Adam Foote. Shanny cut him, but other than that it was a draw for the most part. These games between the Red Wings and the Avalanche are becoming more and more popular as these rivals fight for Western Conference supremacy.

NEW JERSEY: It was all Doug Brown in this one. Scoring a hat trick and adding an assist, Brown paced the Red Wings as they defeated the elite New Jersey Devils in a close game. Nicklas Lidstrom scored two goals in the win.

After a scoreless second period and the game tied at one, the offensive scoring began for both teams as seven goals were scored. Doug Brown scored all of his points in this period against his former team. It was the first hat trick of his career, which began in New Jersey.

This was a great win against one of the best teams in the league. To score five goals against Martin Brodeur is a great feat let alone a rare one at that. The Wings showed great determination in this game by never giving up and always swarming the net and throwing everything they could at the Devils.

BOSTON: Rookie defenseman Anders Eriksson recorded a goal and an assist, helping the Wings post consecutive wins for the first time this month and continue their dominance against Boston with a 4-2 victory. Joey Kocur, Darren McCarty and Nicklas Lidstrom also scored for Detroit, which has won nine straight meetings with the Bruins and five straight in Boston.

Detroit has not lost at Boston since Nov. 2, 1991 at the old Boston Garden. Chris Osgood finished with 33 saves and extended his personal unbeaten streak to four games (2-0-2).

"We've had a target on us for the last five years," McCarty said. "It's just the way, everybody's always up to play us. We're a good hockey club and we have been that way for a number of years. We have to be ready to play every game. If we do not play 60 minutes, we're not going to win."

The win was the 200th for Scotty Bowman behind the Wings' bench. Bowman joined Jack Adams, Tommy Ivan and Sid Abel as the only Detroit coaches to reach that mark. Bowman needed just 333 games to reach the milestone, 20 fewer than Ivan. Very impressive.

"I don't really think much about that. A lot of other coaches have done that here, I'm sure," Bowman said. "That won't mean anything to me now. I never thought of it that way." Humility is a virtue I'm told.

BUFFALO: Rookie Anders Eriksson's goal snapped a tie and Chris Osgood made 26 saves to lead the Detroit Red Wings to their third straight victory, a 3-1 triumph over the Buffalo Sabres. It was Eriksson's fifth goal of the season and second game winner in as many nights. He is playing very good as of late and is getting lots of ice time.

Detroit killed off a five-on-three penalty for the first 1:43 of the second period and held Buffalo scoreless in five chances with the man advantage. The Red Wings have won their last three games in Buffalo. Kirk Maltby scored his third of the season.

"It was big, especially shorthanded early in the first period," McCarty said. "We all knew he was playing well. We sort of got behind the eight ball early with penalties, but we were fortunate enough to get one each in the first and get one late in the second. It enabled us to play a stingy third period. My first thing was Stevie yelled to me, 'Two on one.' I wanted to stay wide. I was looking to pass to him but I had a full lane to net, so when I looked to the net I was looking to shoot low and just fortunately to go in."

TORONTO: Captain Steve Yzerman, Kirk Maltby and Igor Larionov scored first period goals as the Red Wings defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-1, in the opener of a home-and-home series for their fourth straight win. Brendan Shanahan and Brent Gilchrist each had two assists. Chris Osgood made 20 saves.

Yzerman's 10th goal of the season gave the Wings the lead for good eight minutes into the game. It was the 549th tally of his career, moving him past Michel Goulet into 13th place on the all-time list.

Maltby's fourth goal doubled the lead less than four minutes later. Gilchrist picked up the puck along the boards and fired it off a Toronto defenseman. It was his fourth goal of the season. Larionov's power play goal pushed the lead to 3-0 with just over two minutes to play in the opening period. It was Igor's fourth goal as well for the league's best- ranked offense.

TORONTO (2): Kirk Maltby recorded his first career hat trick and Brendan Shanahan scored his 17th goal and assisted on another during a five-goal second period scoring barrage for the Red Wings in an 8-1 win over the Leafs. Maltby's hat trick matched his entire goal output of last season. He has been playing rather well as of late and is getting some time on the power play because of it.

Goalie Chris Osgood stopped 29 shots and is 5-0-1 in his last six games with four wins during the week. The Red Wings completed the sweep of the Maple Leafs after winning 4-1 at Detroit on Friday. They have won five straight games for the first time this season and are tied with Dallas for first overall in the league with 55 points. Also scoring for the Red Wings were captain Steve Yzerman, Marty Lapointe, Slava Kozlov, and Anders Eriksson.

What a game! It seemed as though everything that was thrown the Leafs way went in. Shot after shot. The Wings are hot and getting four points against division rivals in consecutive nights really makes things look great.

DALLAS: Sergei Zubov's goal with 5:22 to play in regulation lifted the Dallas Stars into a 2-2 tie with the Red Wings as the teams remained tied on top of the Central Division. Both teams have 56 points to lead the NHL. The Demolition Man Tomas Holmstrom's fourth goal and a goal by Slava Kozlov were all the Wings could muster against Eddie Belfour.

Belfour made 20 saves, boosting his record to 20-6-6. He is 13-24-6 all-time against the Red Wings and the Stars are just 2-11-2 at the Joe Louis Arena since moving to Dallas from Minnesota following the 1992-93 season. Ozzie stopped a total of 30 shots for the Wings in the satisfactory tie.

It was an exciting game from start to finish. Great defense and spectacular goaltending was center stage. You could not ask for much more in the contest.

ST. LOUIS: The hot Doug Brown scored twice in the second period and the hot Kirk Maltby added his sixth goal in five games as the Wings defeated the St. Louis Blues, 5-2. Joe Kocur, the third member of the "Grind Line," opened the scoring in the first period for the Red Wings, who improved their all-time New Year's Eve record to 26-20-7.

Brown, Maltby and Kocur combined for 18 goals and seven assists in December, helping the Red Wings to an 8-3-4 record. "We don't put numbers on our lines," Red Wings coach Scotty Bowman said. "With Igor out and Draper out, we had all three of our centers play about 20 minutes. Gilchrist, Brown and Stevie."

Chris Osgood had to make only 17 saves for Detroit, which broke a six-game regular season winless streak against the division rival Blues.

Yzerman picked up a pair of assists, moving past Alex Delvecchio into second place on the team's all-time list and 15th on the NHL list.

PHOENIX: Goalie Kevin Hodson, making a rare start, stopped 28 shots for his first shutout in over a year. Vyacheslav Kozlov snapped a scoreless tie midway through the second period as the Red Wings beat the Phoenix Coyotes with a 2-0 victory. Hodson turned aside eight shots in the first period, 12 in the second and eight in the third for his third career shutout.

Kozlov's goal came with over eight minutes left in the second period on a rebound of his own shot that appeared to go in off the skate of Phoenix defenseman Deron Quint. Kozlov and Igor Larionov added assists on Mike Knuble's insurance goal with about three minutes gone in the third period. It was Knuble's fourth goal. The Wings improved to 23-1-2 when leading after two periods.

Despite avoiding their first three-game losing streak since 1993, the Red Wings have continued to struggle offensively, scoring just four goals in their last three games. However the offense is still rated first overall in the NHL.

DALLAS: Steve Yzerman and Jere Lehtinen exchanged third period goals as the Wings and Dallas Stars continue to kiss their sisters in another tie, 3-3. A week earier, the two teams tied 2-2, leaving the question as to who is really the top team in the league unanswered.

Chris Osgood made 20 saves in the game, while Ed Belfour collected 23. Lehtinen scored twice for Dallas. Yzerman, Larry Murphy and Kirk Maltby tickled the twine for Detroit.

WASHINGTON: The Red Wings smothered the Washington Capitals at Joe Louis Arena as Chris Osgood collected another shutout between the pipes, 2-0.

Thanks to a tight defensive system, Osgood only had to face 15 Capital shots to earn his 21st win of the season. The Red Wing offense, on the other hand, peppered Olaf Kolzig with 39 shots. But the lopsided shot count is misleading. The Caps were in the game the entire way. The first two periods were scoreless thanks to Olle the goalie, who stopped 19 shots in the second period, alone. The game remained scoreless until Igor Larionov finally got one past Kolzig at 6:13 of the third period. Slava Kozlov sealed the win with an empty netter with 20 seconds left in the game.

MISC: Sergei Fedorov met with GM Ken Holland recently and received his Stanley Cup ring finally. The two sides however are still light years apart and it seems as though his days are numbered as a Red Wing. Rumors of him being traded to Washington, New York(s), and L.A. are rampant.

Mid-Season Report Card:

Centers  
Sergei Fedorov  Inc. 
Steve Yzerman  A- 
Igor Larionov   A-
Kris Draper  B+ 

Left Wings 
Brendan Shanahan  A+ 
Vyacheslav Kozlov  B- 
Doug Brown  A
Tomas Holmstrom  B- 
Kirk Maltby  B+
Brent Gilchrist  B 

Right Wings
Darren McCarty  B-
Joey Kocur  A-
Martin Lapointe  C
Mathieu Dandenault  B-

Defense
Nicklas Lidstrom  A+
Bob Rouse  C+
Slava Fetisov  B-
Larry Murphy  A
Yan Golubovsky  C-
Jamie Pushor  C
Aaron Ward  B- 
Anders Eriksson  B+

Goalies 
Chris Osgood  A-
Kevin Hodson  B

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