Patrick O'Sullivan scores the only SO goal in the first meeting between the two teams.

BY GENE PRINCIPE
sportsnet.ca

There are some things in life that just cannot be explained and one of those mysteries is the fact that the last-place Edmonton Oilers have beaten the Detroit Red Wings in their first three meetings this season.

"I think we faced them early on and we were skating well," Oilers coach Pat Quinn said of the enigma. "And we caught them especially in our building."

The season series began with a thrilling 6-5 win back in October. The Oilers then left Detroit with a 4-1 victory in December before securing a 3-2 shootout win over the Red Wings at Rexall Place earlier this month.

"I think our team skates well against them," Quinn continued. "That's still a good team. You don't want to bump into them in the first round."

It wasn't long ago that Detroit’s streak of 18 straight playoff appearances looked in danger of ending this season, but a post-Olympic run has the Red Wings sitting in a top eight position in the Western Conference. They have won five straight and eight of their last nine and can strengthen their standing with a win against the Oilers on Tuesday night in the finale of the season series.

"They beat us like a rented mule," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "They just slap us every time we play them and I'm not joking here. We're usually down two goals, six minutes in. I hope they let us touch the puck."

This season’s series has been a reversal of last year’s when the Wings won all four games against the Oilers.

------- For a while, it looked like the Red Wings might not even make the playoffs, let alone earn a third straight trip to the Stanley Cup finals. Now they are solidifying their status as a team that few opponents want to face.

Detroit (39-23-13) was tied for ninth in the Western Conference coming out of the Olympic break, but it has spent the stretch run climbing in the standings and making a case as a dangerous postseason opponent.

EDMONTON lines	DETROIT lines
L1: Penner-Cogliano-Comrie	L1: Franzen-Datsyuk-Holmstrom
L2: O'Sullivan-Potulny-Brule	L2: Filppula-Zetterberg-Bertuzzi
L3: Moreau-Horcoff-Pisani	L3: Williams-Draper-Miller
L4: Nilsson-Pouliot-Stortini	L4: Meech-Helm-Eaves
D1: Whitney-Gilbert	D1: Lidstrom-Rafalski
D2: Chorney-Strudwick	D2: Kronwall-Stuart
D3: Arsene-Johnson	D3: Ericsson-Lilja
G: Deslauriers	G: Howard

The Red Wings' 11-2-1 record since March 1 is the best in the league, and they knocked off another hot team Saturday night. Nashville had won seven of eight, but after 65 minutes, Niklas Kronwall's 11th-round shootout goal gave visiting Detroit a 1-0 victory.

The win was just the fifth in 14 shootouts for the Red Wings and first in their last five.

"Shootouts haven't been our friend this year," coach Mike Babcock said. "(Goaltender Jimmy Howard) did a great job, save after save after save. His confidence has got to be growing, that's a good thing for him and it's a good thing for us."

Howard is 8-0-1 with a 1.52 goals-against average since March 11.

Detroit could finish anywhere from fifth to eighth in the West, and it's clear that none of the top four seeds would relish seeing the two-time defending conference champions in the first round. The Red Wings are 10-3-4 against San Jose, Chicago, Vancouver and Phoenix.

"It sure helps being on the right side of the eight spot, being the team that's chasing and trying to catch up," defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom told the Red Wings' official Web site. "We're still not out of the woods yet, we know we still have to continue to win to make sure we're going to make it and be in the playoffs."