Osgood shuts out Bruins in tight contest

• Last Updated: November 04. 2009 7:13PM UAE / November 4. 2009 3:13PM GMT

Detroit’s Chris Osgood, right, keeps his eyes on Boston’s Blake Wheeler during Tuesday’s game which saw the goaltender shutout the Bruins in a 2-0 victory for the Red Wings. Gregory Shamus / Getty Images

Alex Kunawicz

The Detroit goaltender Chris Osgood had his first shutout of the season as the Red Wings beat the Boston Bruins 2-0 in a closely fought encounter on Tuesday.

Osgood, who was pulled from the net last week after allowing two goals in seven minutes in a 5-4 win over Vancouver, made 29 saves to complete his 50th career shutout. “I don’t put much merit in shutouts,” said Osgood.

“The only thing they’re good for is that you know you have a great chance of winning the game.”

Henrik Zetterberg and Tomas Holmstrom scored in the first period for the defending Western Conference champions. The Bruins netminder Tim Thomas had 24 saves but his teammates failed to fire up front.

For Boston, who were without injured forwards Marc Savard and Milan Lucic, it was the first time they have been held goalless in consecutive games since 2007.

“I see a lot of good things, even though we made a couple of mistakes that cost us,” Thomas said. “We want to put the puck in the net.

“We’re still getting chances, sniffing right around the edge but it’s not going in for us.”

Zetterberg beat Thomas with a snap shot at 14:21 in the first and Holmstrom followed with a backhand shot three minutes later. Pavel Datsyuk assisted on both goals.

Elsewhere, Pascal Dupuis scored the decisive goal with 10:47 to play as the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Anaheim Ducks 4-3 to tie an NHL record with their seventh consecutive road victory to open the season.

The Dupuis goal came after strikes from Michael Rupp, Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski were cancelled out by Corey Perry, who netted twice, and Saku Koivu.

The Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma said: “We battle and block shots, and our goalie makes a big save. It hasn’t been as pretty as some might like, but we keep working hard.”

Perry said of his side’s loss: “We’re working hard, and if we keep playing the way we played tonight, we’re going to get bounces and create chances for ourselves. Everybody in here is trying their hardest.”

Toronto still only have one win this season after Ryan Malone scored in overtime to give Tampa Bay Lightning a 2-1 victory over the Maple Leafs.

“We have to persevere, we can’t change what we’re doing because we’re right there knocking on the door,” the Leafs coach Ron Wilson said. We’ve just got to find a way to knock the door completely down.”

The Atlanta Thrashers won 5-4 at the Montreal Canadiens, with Colby Armstrong on target for the winning goal, while Vancouver Canucks outclassed the New York Rangers 4-1 with two goals from Mikael Samuelsson.

* With agencies