Red Wings Continue Mastery of Capitals

The rematch looked a lot like the Stanley Cup finals.

In the only regular season meeting between last spring’s Stanley Cup finalists, the Detroit Red Wings extended their four-year mastery over the Washington Capitals with a 3-2 victory Tuesday at Washington.

Brendan Shanahan and Doug Brown scored on consecutive shots 87 seconds apart in the second period for the Red Wings, who extended their unbeaten streak against the Capitals to 12 games, including a four-game sweep in the finals in June.

“It really doesn’t mean a lot other than the two points,” said Shanahan. “It’s the last time we play these guys, so it really doesn’t matter. We got the two points, they didn’t.”

Chris Osgood made 28 saves--including 14 in the first period--to gain the win for Detroit, which fired 25 shots against Washington goaltender Olaf Kolzig.

Nashville 3, Carolina 2--Mike Dunham made 34 saves as the expansion Predators recorded their first win in franchise history at Nashville, Tenn.

Andrew Brunette, Denny Lambert, and J.J. Daigneault scored in a span of 7:06 in the first period to give the Predators a 3-0 lead. Nashville had been shut out in its opener Saturday, and was the last NHL team to score a goal this season.

Dallas 3, Chicago 1--Mike Modano scored the tiebreaking goal early in the second period on an assist from linemate Brett Hull to lead the Stars at Dallas.

Goaltender Ed Belfour needed to make only 13 saves to help the Stars to their second victory in as many games.

Jeff Hackett stopped 29 shots for Chicago, which got its only goal from Chad Kilger.

Toronto 3, Edmonton 2--Mats Sundin’s second goal with 9:43 remaining in the third period made a winner out of goaltender Curtis Joseph in his return to Edmonton.

Joseph stopped 28 shots in his first appearance at Skyreach Centre since signing a four-year, $24 million deal with the Maple Leafs on July 15th.