Down by two in the second period and still looking for their first goal of the night, the Detroit Red Wings simply kept competing.
That perseverance paid off with a 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks when Dylan Larkin scored the only goal in a shootout Tuesday.
“I think it’s just going out there and working hard — and working hard for 60 minutes,” said goaltender Jimmy Howard, who made 40 saves. “Realizing that this game has a lot of ups and downs throughout the whole game and if you just continue to stick to it and continue to keep working for 60 minutes, some nights you’re going to get the bounces.”
Justin Abdelkader and Gustav Nyquist scored in regulation for the Red Wings, who have won 4 of 5. Howard denied Elias Pettersson, Nikolay Goldobin and Bo Horvat in the tiebreaker after stopping Horvat on a breakaway 20 seconds into overtime.
“I think part of (being) resilient is guys stepping up and making plays at big moments,” Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. “And for a goaltender, it’s just making a whole bunch of saves and I thought Howie was a big difference that way.”
Pettersson and defenceman Ben Hutton scored for Vancouver, which had won three straight. Jacob Markstrom made 28 saves.
“Overall I thought we controlled the game. To let it slip kind of hurts,” Hutton said.
Nyquist tied the game at 2 just 1:37 into the third period. His shot went off Markstrom’s pad and in off the leg of Canucks defenceman Troy Stecher for his second goal.
Abdelkader’s power-play goal got Detroit on the board with 6:15 left in the second. He put in a loose puck from the slot for his third of the season.
Hutton’s third goal with 8:39 remaining in the middle period gave the Canucks a 2-0 advantage. Hutton beat Howard with a screened wrist shot from the left point.
The Red Wings challenged that the play was offside going into the zone, but the goal was upheld.
Detroit had an apparent goal by Martin Frk reversed on a challenge by Vancouver at 5:36 of the second. Frk took a long pass at the Canucks blue line for a breakaway and beat Markstrom with a slap shot from the right circle. But the Canucks challenged that the play was offside and replays showed Frk was in the Vancouver zone before the puck, and the call was reversed.
Pettersson gave Vancouver a 1-0 lead with 6:21 left in the first period on a slap shot from the top of the left circle off the rush. The rookie centre already has 10 goals.
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