Detroit Red Wings blank New York Islanders, 3-0, behind sharp special teams

Shortly before the puck dropped, Steve Yzerman, general manager and former captain, noted how the current Detroit Red Wings had come through with a victory on Thursday when the 1997 Stanley Cup championship team was honored.

The Wings came through again on Saturday after the 1998 team was honored at Little Caesars Arena, delivering a solid performance against the New York Islanders to earn a 3-0 victory.

"I really liked our entire game," coach Derek Lalonde said. "I know we won the special teams battle, that was a big difference to go up 2-0, but our five-on-five game led to that. It was good. Good focus from our group."

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Lucas Raymond and Pius Suter scored during special-teams play in the second period and Dominik Kubalik scored midway through the third period. It was Kubalik's fifth goal and fifth multi-point game of the season. Ville Husso made 24 saves in his second shutout of the season.

"It was a good game for us," Husso said. "Guys did a really good job. They only had 11 shots after two periods, so made my night easy again. In the end, just try to keep my focus on the game and not let in any goals. Big win for us."

The Wings (6-3-2) play again Sunday at the New York Rangers.

Handy Raymond

The Islanders took offense to Raymond's big hit on Mathew Barzal in the second period, but Oliver Wahlstrom's decision to rough up Raymond earned the Wings a power play. The advantage grew to two skaters when Adam Pelech was called for hooking 44 seconds later. The Wings did what worked in their previous game: Dylan Larkin had the puck and found Kubalik at the bottom of the right circle. Kubalik passed the puck through the paint to Raymond, stationed to the left of the net. Raymond flung the puck behind Semyon Varlamov, scoring for the fourth time in four games after a slow start to the season.

Lalonde said Raymond's hands played into the decision to move him to the net on power plays. "It's just putting the hands in the correct spots. We're trying to run it through [David] Perron, and it just gives him that available right-shot there."

Pick up the stick, Husso

It was easy to laugh about it afterwards, but there were a tense few seconds near the end of the game when Husso lost his stick with the Islanders swarming his net. Ben Chiarot was able to pick up the stick, and he attempted to hand it to Husso — but Husso seemed to ignore Chiarot.

"I was saying, grab your stick," Lalonde said. "The stick is right there, pick it up. You are going to save more pucks with the stick. But to him, you could just see the focus. He was literally just following the play. And literally, Chiarot was hitting him on the pad with it, take the stick. Husso is like, no, I’m watching the puck right now."

That's exactly what he was thinking. "I didn’t really care if I don’t have a stick, but he seemed like I needed it," Husso said, laughing.

It was Husso's fourth start in five games. He has had the benefit of more home starts (seven, compared to one for Alex Nedeljkovic) but Husso also has created separation with his strong play. Lalonde said the Wings have to be better in front of Nedeljkovic, who is scheduled to start against the Rangers.

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Suter's big game

Saturday marked the first time this season Suter was part of the top-six group, playing on a line with Larkin and Raymond. Suter largely has been on the fourth line, but he has contributed on the penalty kill, using his speed to create offensive chances and, at the very least, eat up valuable seconds. He did so again Saturday, with deserving results: Moritz Seider began the play behind the Wings' net while Larkin was serving a roughing call late in the second period. Adam Erne caught the puck along the boards and forwarded it to Suter, who raced up ice and gave his team a 2-0 lead with his second goal of the season.

"I'm comfortable with him in any situation," Lalonde said. "He's had fourth-line minutes, middle-line minutes; tonight he's on our top line. Did a great job. You get a chance like that, you are going to want to bury it and he did. The game looks a lot different up 2-0."

Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Red Wings blank New York Islanders, 3-0, behind special teams