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CALGARY, Alberta (Ticker) -- The droughts are over for
Brendan Shanahan
,
Curtis Joseph
and the
Detroit Red Wings
.
Shanahan scored his first two goals in 10 games, Joseph recorded his first win of the season and the
Red Wings
ended a five-game winless streak with a 3-0 blanking of the
Calgary Flames
.
In addition to his goal-scoring drought, Shanahan had not registered a point in six games. But he opened the scoring on the power play 54 seconds into the second period, then capped it late in the third.
"I've been getting the shots on goal this year and I usually keep a pretty close eye on my shooting percentage," Shanahan said. "I kept telling myself I wasn't going to finish the season with a 2 percent shooting percentage. I kept putting the puck on net and working hard. I was due."
Relegated to third goaltender status after
Dominik Hasek
came out of retirement, Joseph lost his season debut on Thursday in Nashville. But he stopped 21 shots against the Flames, one of his favorite opponents, for his first win since April 3.
"I've been practicing for a long time, with a few setbacks, so it feels good, no question," said Joseph, who improved to 24-8-3 lifetime vs. Calgary. "I felt better as the game went on, but I still need a lot of work though."
Darren McCarty
had the other goal for Detroit, which was off to its worst start in a decade but climbed back to the .500 mark at 6-6-1. The
Red Wings
were coming off Monday's 5-1 loss at Vancouver.
"We've definitely struggled more than we're used to," McCarty said. "I think last night, getting embarrassed in Vancouver, was the icing on the cake. Something I think you get caught resting on your laurels, focusing on what you've done instead of what you're doing."
Coming off a 3-0 victory over Columbus, Calgary generated little offense and lost for the third time in four games.
"It wasn't a lot of difference, except in the caliber of our opponent," Flames coach Darryl Sutter said. "They're an experienced club that came in here and played a strong game in the neutral zone, and we couldn't get through it.
"They know we have some guys that are struggling to score here and they plug up the middle. That's exactly what they did."
Among the Calgary players who are struggling are
Jarome Iginla
and
Craig Conroy
, who were held to one shot. Iginla also committed a turnover that led to McCarty's breakaway goal in the second period.
"We have to take a lot of the blame for the way the game went," Iginla said. "They're a smart team and they're still a very good hockey club. They got us off our game."
Shanahan put Detroit in front in the opening minute of the second period when he got a feed from defenseman
Mathieu Schneider
and leaned into a one-timer in the left faceoff circle, blasting it past goalie
Jamie McLennan
.
Sutter brought on
Dany Sabourin
to start the third period after McLennan yielded two goals on 18 shots.
"It has nothing to do with Jamie's performance.
Jamie McLennan
has been our best player in our building this year," Sutter explained. "I wanted Dany to play 20 minutes in our building because he's going to play a lot in our building."
Shanahan's second goal of the night came off a three-way passing play that was set up by a turnover by Calgary winger
Oleg Saprykin
.
Joseph faced less than a handful of tough chances, but he came out to challenge Steven Reinprecht and got his left pad on his slap shot with 6 1/2 minutes remaining in the third period. Defenseman
Toni Lydman
had a chance in the final seconds, but Joseph robbed him from point-blank range.
"I saw a defenseman coming in, so I played on him," Joseph said. "It was a bang-bang type thing and fortunately, I stayed out."
The save preserved Joseph's 42nd career shutout and third against Calgary.
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