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DETROIT (Ticker) -- Most teams have had their way with the Calgary Flames over the last month. Detroit Red Wings goaltender Curtis Joseph has been doing it a whole lot longer. Joseph stopped 31 shots and rookie Henrik Zetterberg scored the go-ahead goal in the second period as the Red Wings held on for a 4-2 triumph over the Flames, whose latest losing streak reached four games. Joseph has given up only two goals in three wins over Calgary this season, improving to 23-7-3 lifetime vs. the Flames. This victory was the 355th of his career, moving him into a tie with Rogie Vachon for 12th on the all-time list. "Credit to them, they played extremely well," Joseph said. "Fortunately, we got the 'W' tonight and that's all we care about. We try not to underestimate the opponent. ... We expected them to go hard to the net." Zetterberg scored his sixth goal of the season and second in as many games to break a 1-1 tie. With 7:03 to go in the second, defenseman Jason Woolley missed the net with a slap shot. But the puck caromed off the end boards to Zetterberg, who whacked it past goaltender Roman Turek. "It was nice to have an open net, it makes it a lot easier," Zetterberg said. "It's always tough when you score a goal and the other team makes a goal directly after that." Zetterberg's tally came 32 seconds after Craig Conroy got the Flames on the board. "That was a tough goal," Calgary right wing Jarome Iginla admitted. "When you score so soon after the other team scores, it's a big goal. It was a deflating goal. That's tough to take." Sean Avery beat Turek on a breakaway with the eventual game-winner midway through the third period and Sergei Fedorov added an empty-netter in the final minute after Iginla's power-play tally lifted Calgary within 3-2. The Flames carried the play throughout and had a 33-18 advantage in shots. But they have lost seven straight on the road and have just one win in the last 12 games (1-10-0-1). "I think we're trying to stay away from frustration," Calgary center Stephane Yelle said. "When you get frustrated, you get nothing accomplished. We have a good bunch of guys here. There's no quitters on this team. We're trying to keep going and work hard every day and every game, and we'll get out of this." The Red Wings had one second left on their first power play of the game when Brendan Shanahan scored 8:57 into the opening period. He fired a slap shot from the top of the left faceoff circle between Turek's pads for his eighth goal of the season. Joseph stopped Iginla on a breakaway with 7 1/2 minutes to go in the period and denied him again on a blast from the top of the slot off a 4-on-2 rush midway through the second. "It's tough," Iginla said. "We had 33 shots. A lot of those were quality chances. It looked like we had them beat, and then (Joseph) was there. He was jumping around. He's so competitive." The Flames finally got one past Joseph with 7:35 left in the second when Conroy was unchecked in the slot and put in a rebound for his first goal in 11 games. After Zetterberg broke the deadlock, Avery picked off a pass at the blue line, broke in alone and put a wrister past Turek for his first goal since March 6. "It was just kind of a change," Avery said. "I just jumped on, got in the zone late, picked off a pass, got control of it and went in and got a shot off." The Red Wings were without defenseman Chris Chelios (hand) and center Pavel Datsyuk (knee). |
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