GLENDALE, Ariz. _ A night after losing to the worst team in the NHL, the Detroit Red Wings went the distance to beat the second-worst.
A rare good night from the power play and a shootout goal from Gustav Nyquist gave the Wings a 5-4 victory over the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday night at Gila River Arena. Wings goalie Petr Mrazek made 29 saves.
Dylan Larkin and Tomas Tatar converted on power plays and the Wings began the third period with 1:53 left on their fourth power play, tied at 2.
They gained a 3-2 edge at 3:52, when Mike Green took a sweet pass from Henrik Zetterberg, went around Alex Goligoski and flicked a backhand move on Mike Smith. Within four minutes the Wings hurt themselves when they allowed Lawson Crouse to score on a 2-on-1 during Detroit's fifth power play.
Zetterberg, who came into the game with 14 penalty minutes, received a second penalty, at 11:43 of the third period. Zetterberg made up for it by coming out of the box and putting the puck in the net, using his 324th career goal to tie Norm Ullman for sixth in Detroit history.
Defenseman Jakob Chrychrun, the guy the Coyotes moved up in the draft to acquire by taking on the contract of Pavel Datsyuk last summer, scored five-hole on a screened Mrazek at 2:30, tying it at 4. Shots were 29-25 to Detroit at the end of regulation.
The Wings saw a seventh power play, during overtime, and Smith made a big save on Frans Nielsen from the doorstep.
In the shootout, Brendan Pirlini shot wide. Nyquist scored on a backhand. Mrazek stopped Radim Vrbata and Nielsen shot wide. Mrazek stopped Oliver Ekman-Larson for the victory.
The Wings came out like a team embarrassed by how it finished the night before in a 3-1 loss in Colorado. Larkin picked off Peter Holland and threw the puck on net from the left circle. Larkin converted on a power play at 6:55, when he connected on a pass from Riley Sheahan, who'd quickly gotten a hold of Andreas Athanasiou's rebound. The Wings had run up a 5-0 edge in shots before the Coyotes got their first shot on Mrazek, near the period's midpoint.
The Coyotes turned that first shot into a flurry, with Mrazek soon making his sixth save of the game, gloving a shot by Luke Schenn. Mrazek was sharp as the Wings killed off a rare penalty on Zetterberg. A second Wings power play saw Zetterberg's unit have possession its entire shift but unable to register a shot on net. Mrazek finished the period with 10 saves, to seven from Smith.
After such a good first period, Mrazek was beat on a simple shot by Vrbata from the right circle early in the second period, as Mrazek was out too far and off angle. The Wings then followed a pattern and immediately gave up another goal, with Goligoski scoring when his shot deflected in off Green.
All the bigger to respond right away, and on a power play, no less. Tatar tied it at 2 when he converted Green's rebound at 4:45, marking the seventh time this season the Wings have scored two power-play goals in a game. Justin Abdelkader nearly scored off a pass from Athanasiou. Shots after two periods were 19-16 to Arizona.
