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| Last updated at 12:35 AM on 18/11/08 |
Wings skate circles around Oilers 
DAVE WADDELL
Canwest News Service
DETROIT — Well you can’t blame this one on Dustin Penner.
Penner was scratched for the second straight game as he watched his Edmonton Oilers teammates get schooled 4-0 by the Detroit Red Wings Monday night at Joe Louis Arena.
If Oilers head coach Craig MacTavish is looking for a new whipping boy after saying Penner lacked fitness and competitiveness, he’ll have plenty of candidates.
“If you were to draw up what not to do to start a game, we did it, taking two penalties,” MacTavish said, wary for the Red Wings power play which had been clicking at a 33.3 per cent success rate.
“You take one penalty and you’re already down a third of a goal to that team,” the coach added.
Edmonton, which was outshot 41-21, started the contest chasing the Wings around which quickly resulted in them getting down a pair of skaters only 5:21 into the contest.
Detroit defenceman Niklas Kronwall cashed in at 6:11 when Henrik Zetterberg founded him cruising down the slot.
The Wings’ momentum was stunted somewhat in the second-half of the frame when they ran into their own penalty trouble, including being short two for 55 seconds.
The Oilers did little with the opportunity, but Sam Gagner did have the visitor’s best chance on a third power play. However, Detroit goalie Ty Conklin, whose wife Erika gave birth to the couple’s third child Saturday, soaked up the shot from close range.
“He’s a real professional guy,” Detroit coach Mike Babcock said of his backup goaltender. “He works hard every day and I’ve heard him chirping at the guys. He gets in and gives us a chance to win. That’s a real good situation for us. He’s not a kid. You play him when you want and you don’t worry about him.”
Edmonton was fortunate to escape to the intermission down only one goal after Nick Lidstrom’s shot hit both posts and danced on the goal-line during a another power play late in a period that looked like a special team’s practice.
“We got out of the first period only down 1-0, then had five or six red-zone chances early in the second and kept missing the net or muffing shots. Or we’d put it right into the goalie’s crest,” said MacTavish. “Then (Mikael) Samuelsson scores, then they get a deflection to make it 3-0, and it’s effectively over.”
After the Wings killed off a fourth Edmonton power play to start the second period, Detroit doubled its lead at three minutes.
Samuelsson jumped around statuesque Oiler defenceman Jason Strudwick to chip Brett Lebda’s feed past goalie Dwayne Roloson from the top of the crease.
The Wings were finding life quite comfortable in front of the net and Roloson must have wondered how his mates could leave Marian Hossa of all people there alone.
Roloson did well to turn Hossa’s effort onto the post at 9:00, but he couldn’t defend against Jiri Hudler’s shot bouncing past him off Oilers defenceman Sheldon Souray’s leg at 14:18.
The Wings completed their most solid effort of the season with Johan Franzen’s ninth goal, a weaving trip to the goal finished off with a backhander at 10:04 of the third period.
(Windsor Star)
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18/11/08
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