Game 38: Pittsburgh 5, Red Wings 2

Pittsburgh, PA (1/10/70)- The Red Wings, riding a four-game losing streak and with no game scheduled for a week, badly needed a win in Pittsburgh on Saturday night.

It didn't come close to happening.

The Penguins jumped on the Red Wings early, and cruised to a 5-2 win at the Civic Arena on Saturday night.

The Penguins staked themselves to a 2-0 lead just 6:20 into the game and kept Detroit at arm's reach all night.

The loss was the eighth in ten games for the Red Wings (16-13-9).

"We talked about getting off to a good start and it was the exact opposite," bemoaned Nick Libett afterward.

A scheduling quirk has the Red Wings off until next Saturday. Now, another loss has left a bad taste that they will have to deal with all week.

"Back to the drawing board," said coach Sid Abel. "What else can you do?"

Dean Prentice and Glen Sather beat Roy Edwards in the first period.

"The puck has been going into the net too much," Abel said of the goaltending during the losing streak, in which the Red Wings have been outscored, 21-6.

Gordie Howe made the score 2-1 early in the second period on a wrist shot. Michel Briere restored the two-goal lead for Pittsburgh over eight minutes later.


Pittsburgh's Michel Briere faces off against Detroit's Garry Unger on Saturday night

Matt Ravlich scored a power play goal at 18:23 of the second, and the Red Wings trailed 3-2 after two periods.

But Pittsburgh's Keith McCreary stole the puck at the Detroit blue line and skated in alone on Edwards, beating the Red Wings goalie with a nifty move at 3:23 of the third period.

Prentice added an empty net tally at 18:50.

The Penguins had 12 shots on goal in every period.

DET 0-2-0 = 2
PIT 2-1-2 = 5

1st Period
PIT- Prentice (Briere, Pratt) 3:09
PIT- Sather (Morrison, Hextall) 6:20

2nd Period
DET- Howe (Delvecchio, Bergman) 2:44
PIT- Briere (Harbaruk, Prentice) 11:10
DET- Ravlich (Delvecchio, Mahovlich) PPG 18:23

3rd Period
PIT- McCreary (unassisted) 3:23
PIT- Prentice (Boyer, Morrison) ENG 18:50

Shots on Goal
DET 6-13-12 = 31
PIT 12-12-12 = 36

Goalies
Edwards (DET); Binkley (PIT)

Power Plays
DET 1-for-5; PIT 0-for-4

Penalty Minutes
DET 13; PIT 15

Fights
Ravlich (DET) vs. Sather (PIT) 9:53 2nd Period