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December 17, 2010

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Blues flop again as Red Wings ride on Lidstrom's first hat-trick

NICKLAS Lidstrom recorded the first hat-trick of his lengthy career to power the Central Division-leading Detroit Red Wings to a 5-2 victory over the St Louis Blues on Wednesday.

The 40-year-old Swede, a winner of six Norris Trophies for top defenseman, netted the game's opening score in the second period and added two more goals in the third.

Lidstrom's shot into an empty net with 30 seconds remaining sealed his achievement in his 19th year as a professional.

"It's been a long wait - 19 years before I got one," Lidstrom told reporters. "I was just trying to get (the last shot) on net. Once we got our legs going, I thought we took the game over."

Niklas Kronwall and Danny Cleary chipped in with scores in the second period where the Red Wings (20-7-3) stormed to a 3-1 lead en route to their third win in four games.

Detroit was coming off a 0-5 shutout loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Monday when it attempted 51 shots and came up empty. The Red Wings fared much better against St Louis goaltender Jaroslav Halak who finished with 32 saves.

The Blues (14-10-5), who are in last place in the division, got goals from Carlo Colaiacovo and Brad Winchester yet suffered a second straight defeat.

Netminder Jimmy Howard made 19 stops after he had allowed five goals in two of his last four starts entering the game. But the night belonged to Lidstrom who had recorded 19 multi-goal games during his career before his hat-trick.

"He's done everything else. He might as well do that," said Detroit coach Mike Babcock. "Like fine wine, he gets better with age."

In Montreal, the NHL-leading Philadelphia Flyers extended their winning streak to four by beating rival division leader Montreal Canadiens 5-3.

James van Riemsdyk scored his second goal of the game on a power play 14:27 into the third period to give Philadelphia a 4-3 lead. Claude Giroux made it a two-goal lead with his 16th goal of the season at 15:28. Jeff Carter had a goal and two assists, and Nikolay Zherdev had a goal and an assist for the Flyers.

Elsewhere in NHL, it was: Rangers 4, Penguins 1; Ducks 2, Capitals 1, OT; Lightning 2, Thrashers 1, SO; Predators 3, Sharks 2; Avalanche 4, Blackhawks 3; Canucks 3, Blue Jackets 2, OT; Sabres 3, Bruins 2; Hurricanes 4, Panthers 3; and Devils 3, Coyotes 0.



 

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