Published: September 24, 2008 09:58 am      

Hossa leads White to win

TRAVERSE CITY -- There may not be a better front line in hockey than Detroit's Marian Hossa, Tomas Holmstrom and Pavel Datsyuk.

And, they're already clicking.

The tandem was in on three goals Tuesday at Centre ICE and led the Red Wings White team to a 4-2 win in the annual Red-White game.

Tuesday's scrimmage completed Detroit's four-day training camp in Traverse City that followed a five-day NHL prospects tournament the week before.

"It's been great," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "The people treated us fantastic, and it was a good way to start camp. We were able to go through our foundation and try to establish some work ethic. Now, we get to see our team play exhibition games."

Detroit will host Montreal today at 7 p.m. at Joe Louis Arena in the first game of the exhibition season. It will also allow the Red Wings to start hitting opponents, instead of teammates.

"We've been waiting for that and the players are anxious to do that," Babcock said. "So, we're excited about that. And (we're excited) to getting going to see if we're any good or not."

The Red Wings top line got the scoring started early in the first of two 25-minute periods when Holmstrom beat Chris Osgood on an unassisted goal nine minutes into the game.

Mikael Samuelsson tied it up 30 seconds later when Andreas Lija's shot from the blue line bounced of goalkeeper Ty Conklin and Samuelsson was there to flip in the rebound.

Hossa then made it 2-1 White with slapshot from the right side of the ice on a power play. Nicklas Lidstrom had the assist.

Then with 24 seconds before the intermission, Derek Meech made it a 3-1 advantage for the White team when Datsyuk kicked the puck back to the open defenseman, who put the puck top-shelf for the score.

In the second half, the teams turned to prospects Jimmy Howard and Daniel Larsson in net. Howard made 13 saves for the White team while Larsson had 10 for the Red.

"I thought the Larsson kid in net did really well, and I thought Howard played real well," Babcock said. "And, I was impressed with (Darren) Helm's game tonight."

Larsson was looking to post a shutout in his appearance, but Lidstrom broke it up with a laser from the left side of the blue line.

"I saw it, but I didn't know he could shoot that fast," Larsson said. "But, that's his skill. You know the next time in that situation, you're going to be prepared. I don't think he'll score another time from the exact same spot."

Larsson will play for Grand Rapids this year, but has benefitted from being in camp with the top-level Red Wings.

"I felt pretty good," Larsson said. "It was quite harder in the beginning, because it was a faster game. It was a really good camp for me to see the game over here and learn a lot from that. (There are) a lot of different angles and a different game in front of the net."

Jiri Hudler had the Red team's lone goal of the second period off assists from Henrik Zetterberg and Johan Franzen.

The team made it through training camp without any serious injuries. Valtteri Filppula jammed his right thumb on Saturday, but will only miss a few exhibition games.

"I think it's been good," Babcock said. "It hasn't been as physical as games will be, but it's good to get the guy's groins and hip-flexors under control. They'll be a little more rested when they play from here on in, and obviously have a bit more jump."

On Monday night, the Red Wings sent Randy Cameron, Zach Torquato, Stephen Johnston, Travis Ehrhardt, Thomas McCollum and Cameron Cepek back to their junior teams and released forwards Jordan Foreman, Cody Thornton and Bryce Swan, as well as defenseman Joe Ryan.

More cuts will have to be made to get to the 23-man roster limit when the regular season begins.

"The roster gets smaller and the competition gets fiercer from here on in," Babcock said. "It should be fun."