Recap: Detroit vs. Atlanta
Sports Network | November 25, 2009
Detroit, MI (Sports Network) - Ondrej Pavelec made 40 saves to post his second career shutout, as Atlanta clipped Detroit, 2-0, at Joe Louis Arena.
Nik Antropov and Slava Kozlov lit the lamp for the Thrashers, who snapped a three-game losing string.
"This one was big for us. We lost three in a row and came into the Joe facing the best team in the NHL probably," Pavelec said. "It was key that we shut them down for the entire 60 minutes."
Jimmy Howard yielded both goals on 25 shots for the Red Wings, who limped to their fourth loss in five.
Antropov put the visitors on the board a little more than five minutes in, and Pavelec withstood a 19-shot barrage in the first period to keep Detroit off the board.
Kozlov doubled Atlanta's edge on a power play at the 9:08 mark of the second, taking a lead pass from Ilya Kovalchuk, beating two defenseman and sliding a backhander through Howard's pads.
Atlanta's defensive effort permitted only six Wings shots in the second period, then Pavelec came up big with 15 saves over the final 20 minutes to lock up the win.
"It's not going in for us now. It's really frustrating but we have to keep pressing and shooting and going to the net," said Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock. We got a little cute there in the second period but returned to the game plan in the third but still didn't get it done."
Atlanta has won two of the last three in Detroit, including a 5-1 game on January 15, 2008...Detroit hadn't been shut out since April 12 at Chicago and hadn't been held scoreless at home since March 27...The Wings have scored six goals in the five contests after registering 19 in the prior three.
