HAWKS FLYING IN THE WRONG DIRECTION

DETROIT -- Red Wings goalie Manny Legace now has something in common with baseball Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson.

Just call them both ``Mr. October.''

Legace made 21 saves in becoming the first NHL goalie to win 10 games in a month and Mathieu Schneider scored twice in Detroit's 5-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night.

``It's a great honor to be in the record book,'' said Legace, who earns just over $1 million per year. ``I just wish I was playing baseball. I'd be making millions.''

Henrik Zetterberg, Kris Draper and Brendan Shanahan also scored for the Red Wings, who got two assists each from Pavel Datsyuk and Robert Lang and won for the 10th time in 11 games.

Matt Ellison and Jaroslav Spacek scored for Chicago (3-7-0).

Legace was the only reason the Red Wings were tied at 1 after the first period.

The Blackhawks outshot Detroit 12-6 in the first period, with only one of the Red Wings' shots recorded at even strength.

``I thought the goalie was really good early when the rest of us weren't,'' Detroit coach Mike Babcock said.

Schneider's power-play goal broke a 2-2 tie with 8:02 remaining. He scored on a slap shot from the point while Brent Seabrook was in the penalty box for interference.

``We have so many threats on the ice (on the power play),'' Schneider said. ``Teams have to decide what they're going to take away. Tonight, we got some shots from the point through.

``I just try to get a shot on net as quickly as possible, and tonight I got lucky.''

Draper added his first goal of the season with 5:03 left, and Shanahan notched his seventh with 1:19 to go.

Spacek gave the Blackhawks a 2-1 lead 7:28 into the second period when he blasted a shot through Legace's pads from the top of the left circle. Zetterberg tied it at 9:26 with his sixth goal, when he tipped in a pass from Datsyuk.

Chicago opened the scoring with 9:58 remaining in the first period when Ellison put in a rebound. Schneider's first goal was also on the power play -- a slap shot from the point -- and came with 6:48 left in the period.

``We played OK at first,'' Blackhawks coach Trent Yawney said. ``In the second we got away from our game and in the third we couldn't complete a pass.''

It was the first of three consecutive games between the teams. They play in Chicago on Saturday night and in Detroit again on Tuesday.

``I think it makes the game more interesting for the fans,'' Schneider said. ``For the players, absolutely the games become more intense each time. I'd like to see more of it.''

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