[Lefty Noob]

How badly did the Detroit Red Wings need those Olympians back?

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -- The Detroit Red Wings' five Swedish Olympic players wasted little time getting back up to speed after their gold-medal celebration.

Swedish stars Tomas Holmstrom and Henrik Zetterberg scored in a 46-second span in the first period and Chris Osgood made 24 saves in the Red Wings' 2-0 victory over the Anaheim Mighty Ducks on Wednesday night.

Holmstrom and Zetterberg were among five Detroit players who returned to the lineup after helping Sweden beat Finland in the gold-medal game Sunday in Turin. Nicklas Lidstrom, Mikael Samuelsson and Niklas Kronvall also played for Sweden.

Without the Swedes, NHL-leading Detroit fell 5-1 at San Jose on Tuesday night.

"They made a huge difference. I didn't know what to expect, we have a tired hockey club," Detroit coach Mike Bab**** said. "I didn't know if we would have any vapor."

Big game for Holmstrom and Zetterberg. I for one was surprised to see that there wasn't any hangover - after all, they had taken a 30-hour flight to get back in time for last nights game. Amazing performance!

[anrobins]

Only hockey players seem to pull off such feats. I think back to 2002 when Igor Larionov scored the game winning goal in the third overtime of Game 3 (I think) of the finals. That's why I love hockey.