Red Wings keep good times rolling, shut out Islanders after 1998 Stanley Cup celebration

Detroit — Someone tell the Red Wings alumni to stick around a while longer.

They certainly provided good luck and saw some winning hockey from the present Wings, too.

With the 1997 and 1998 Stanley Cup championship teams in attendance, the Wings won their second consecutive game Saturday while the memories flowed, defeating the New York Islanders, 3-0.

BOX SCORE: Red Wings 3, Islanders 0

"It was fun. It added extra motivation for our team in both of these games to play good in front of those guys," said Lucas Raymond, who had a power-play goal in the victory. "It's been a real fun time here (this weekend)."

The Wings dominated the special teams, with Raymond scoring on a power play and Pius Suter scoring a shorthanded goal. Dominik Kubalik scored in the third period and Ville Husso continued his red-hot goaltending with 24 saves en route to his second shutout.

"It was a good game for us," Husso said. "The guys did a real good job. They (the Islanders) only had 11 shots after two periods, so it made my night easy again. In the end, I'm just trying to keep my focus on the game and not let in any goals.

"Guys blocked shots (24) and did all those things again. Big win for us."

Husso saved his best for the third period, with the Islanders pressing, making fine stops on Oliver Wahlstrom and Mathew Barzal.

"Excellent," coach Derek Lalonde said of Husso's performance, who has started four of the last five games. "He, again, it looked like his game from the other day. Calm in net, a couple of big saves but easy saves. Easy saves pile up and pile up and it's just a calming effect on our entire team."

It was the 1998 team that was honored Saturday in pregame ceremonies, with Steve Yzerman addressing the crowd, the team raising the banner again, and Vladimir Konstantinov, whose life-changing accident days after the 1997 Stanley Cup championship marred the summer between the seasons, dropping the ceremonial first puck Saturday along with Yzerman.

The ceremony jolted the Little Caesars Arena crowd and the energy remained the rest of the afternoon.

"Even at practice (Friday), I saw all those guys that played here and won. They were having lunch and it was just cool to see that," Husso said. "They are a big part of the organization and it was nice to see."

Raymond seemed to get under the Islanders' skin all afternoon. Raymond made the Islanders pay with the Wings enjoying a two-man advantage, at the 6:29 mark, slamming in a pass from Kubalik for his fourth goal.

The Wings extended the lead to 2-0 on Suter's second goal, this one shorthanded. Adam Erne pushed the puck ahead to the neutral zone, where Suter won a race to it, and skated in alone on goalie Ilya Sorokin, beating Sorokin from the dot at the 12:51 mark.

Sorokin had just replaced Semyon Varlamov, who briefly left due to a collision in the crease.

The news wasn't all positive for the Wings (6-3-2), who may have lost forward Filip Zadina in the third period after blocking a shot. Lalonde wasn't optimistic after the game that Zadina would be available soon.

"Not good," Lalonde said of the preliminary report on Zadina. "I don't think we're going to see him for a while. I haven't got the complete word, but I got the 'not good.' We'll know more (Sunday)."

The Wings already have Tyler Bertuzzi (upper body), Jakub Vrana (NHL/NHLPA assistance program) and Oskar Sundqvist (upper body) unavailable.

The Wings called up forward Austin Czarnik (Trenton) before Saturday's game (Dylan Larkin had a maintenance day Friday and wasn't completely certain he'd be in the lineup). He'll be in the lineup Sunday against the New York Rangers.

"We have some experience (having had five forwards out at once), and it's next guy up," Lalonde said. "Austin Czarnik flew in (Friday night) and we're excited about getting him in (the lineup)."

ted.kulfan@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @tkulfan