Detroit Celebrates Shutout Victory over Anaheim
Mike Modano of the Detroit Red Wings was nervous before the game against the Anaheim Ducks, playing for the first time in his hometown.
That feeling was short-lived.
Modano scored on his first attempt early in the first period and, after a goal by Johan Franzen, gave the Red Wings a two point lead, in the season opening win for the Red Wings.
40-year-old Modano leads all U.S. born NHL players with 558 goals and 1,360 points, as well as leading in points out of all active players in season-openers, with 23.
In August, Modano’s previous team, the Dallas Stars, decided to get rid of Modano, feeling that he wasn’t a good contribution to the team. After signing with the Red Wings and this 4-0 win over the Ducks, they must be regretting their decision.
Detroit coach Mike Babcock had only nice things to say about Modano, stating, "Mike is a real good player who is going to be a big part of things. Mike is a great fit and he's going to have a lot of fun."
Modano scored only 24 seconds after Franzen did, followed by Pavel Datsyuk and Daniel Cleary, who both scored one goal apiece in the second half.
The game became quite ugly, with stars such as Datsyuk and Corey Perry dropping their gloves and throwing punches.
That’s pretty strange, seeing as Datsyuk is a four-time winner of the Lady Byng Trophy. This trophy went to the fighting Datsyuk, who was renowned as the player with the finest sportsmanship and gentlemanly play, while still having superior playing ability.
Babcock joked about this incident, saying that, “It's too bad for him. Now, he can't win the Lady Byng."
Well, when you gotta fight, you gotta fight.
Red Wings goalie, Jimmy Howard gave a great season opening performance, with 21 saves in the fourth shutout of his career.
The Ducks are still getting used to the retirement of Scott Niedermayer, who decided to retire last summer. 12th draft pick, Cam Fowler, was unable to fill that void. Niedermayer filled that void with his amazing playing and firm leadership, leading
Canada to win the Olympic gold this year.
The next game for Detroit will be on Saturday, October 9 against the Chicago Blackhawks, scheduled to start at 8:30 PM ET.
Anaheim’s next game will be against the Nashville Predators, also on October 9, at 8:00 PM ET.
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