Lidstrom tops 1,000 points as Wings beat Kings

By Bud L. Ellis

Nicklas Lidstrom became just the eighth defenseman to crack the 1,000-point career barrier Thursday night, dishing out two assists as the Detroit Red Wings toppled the Los Angeles Kings 5-2 in Detroit.

Lidstrom, the first European-born defenseman to reach the 1,000-point plateau, assisted on goals in the second and third periods to reach the milestone. Lidstrom was credited with an assit on Tomas Holmstrom’s second-period goal at 8:47 in the second. In the third, Lidstrom tallied an assist at 3:24, on Henrik Zetterberg’s goal.

Detroit improved to 3-3-0 on the season on the milestone night for Lidstrom, who is eighth all time in points by an NHL defenseman.

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Thursday, October 15, 2009 at 10:37 pm by bud

Tags: Detroit Red Wings, Henrik Zetterberg, Los Angeles Kings, National Hockey League Tomas Holmstrom, Nicklas Lidstrom

Franzen tears ACL, will miss at least four months

The city of Detroit received even more bad news on Friday. The Red Wings suffered a huge blow Thursday night, when star forward Johan Franzen suffered a torn ACL against Chicago and will miss a minimum of four months.

Ironically, the injury occurred during a game in which he scored the game-winning goal. But that’s of little comfort to Detroit, who will now be without one of its most talented players and the team’s second-leading scorer last season.

The Red Wings are better-equipped to deal with the loss of stars than most teams, though. With a deep roster that reloads seemingly every few seasons, don’t expect the loss of Franzen to knock this team off the Western Conference perch. It will certainly be a more difficult road to travel, but the Red Wings will find a way to finish at or near the top of the league standings, as usual.

Saturday, October 10, 2009 at 11:08 am by Raj Sethi