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Manny Legace, who set an NHL record with 10 victories in October, lay on the ice for nearly a minute after suffering an injured left knee.Wings 4, Blackhawks 1
Legace suffers injury to knee
Babcock says goalie will be 'fine'; Osgood finishes Red Wings' ninth straight victory.
DETROIT -- On Tuesday afternoon, the NHL named Red Wings goalie Manny Legace defensive player of the month for October.
That night, he started working on his November candidacy. But less than a period into another impressive outing against the Chicago Blackhawks, Legace, who set an NHL record with 10 victories in October, went down in a heap in front of the Wings' net.
He lay on the ice for nearly a minute, writhing in pain as he clutched his left knee. After getting attention from Wings trainer Piet Van Zant, he skated gingerly off the ice and to the dressing room.
The sellout crowd at Joe Louis Arena chanted "Man-ny! Man-ny!" But it was Chris Osgood (23 saves) who would finish a 4-1 victory for the Wings, who are 12-1 and riding a nine-game winning streak after sweeping a three-game series from Chicago.
It is the Wings' longest winning streak since 1995-96, when they set an NHL season record for victories with 62.
This was Osgood's second game back after he missesd more than a month because of a groin injury. More important, it was his first wearing a Wings jersey in Detroit since 2001.
"It's something I'd been looking forward to for a long time, playing a game at home," said Osgood, who is likely to start Thursday against Edmonton. "It's a lot better playing in red and white. I've been under siege a few times at the other end."
Legace, who suffered what team officials called a slight knee sprain, left the arena before the end of the game to have an MRI. But coach Mike Babcock didn't sound overly concerned.
"We watched in on the replay a bunch of times," Babcock said. "It doesn't look like that big a deal. ... I'll sleep easy tonight and we'll have a report tomorrow. He'll be fine."
The injury occurred with 3:23 left in the first period as Jiri Fischer fought for position with Matthew Barnaby in front of the Wings' net. Barnaby went tumbling backward on top of Legace, whose left knee was pinned awkwardly beneath him.
The Wings also were without defenseman Mathieu Schneider, a late scratch because of a sore groin. His absence was felt early, too, as the league's best power-play unit twice could not put a shot on net during a pair of first-period opportunities.
"I don't know if you can imagine how hard it is to beat a team three times in a row," said Babcock, whose team is 18 points clear of Chicago in the Central Division. "But you've got to give our guys credit. We hung in there and it wasn't pretty, but we found a way."
Kirk Maltby finally broke the ice, burying his own rebound off an assist from Steve Yzerman at 15:59 of the first period. Robert Lang missed a golden opportunity to make it 2-0 four minutes into the second period after drawing a penalty shot on a breakaway. Nikolai Khabibulin made an easy save to stop Lang on the freebie.
But after Barnaby was penalized for hooking Lang a few minutes later, rookie defenseman Brett Lebda made it 2-0 with a nifty trick shot on a power play. Lebda, playing his second straight game in place of Jason Woolley (groin), flipped a shot from the left corner at the net and banked the puck in off Khabibulin's leg.
"Just throw it at the net sometimes and it goes in," said Lebda, who has a point in three of his four NHL games.
Later in the period, Brendan Shanahan made it 3-0 with his team-best eighth goal, a wrist shot that beat Khabibulin high on the glove side at 15:10. Jason Williams (goal, assist) started the play with a long breakout to Lang, who set up Shanahan with a drop pass high in the Blackhawks' zone. It was Lang's 300th career assist.
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