Glendale Ariz.- Thursday night’s 5-4 Detroit shootout victory was the second and final game of the season between the Arizona Coyotes and the Detroit Red Wings, with the previous meeting being a 4-1 Coyotes victory at Joe Louis in December. Heading into the game, the Red Wings were coming off of a 3-1 loss the night before to the last-place Colorado Avalanche, and the Coyotes were on a three-game winning streak after beating the Los Angeles Kings 2-1 in a shootout.
Petr Mrazek started in goal for the Red Wings, and Mike Smith got the call for Arizona. The Red Wings’ shootout win improved their NHL-best shootout record to 8-0 and extended the Coyotes’ point streak to 5 games.
First periodÂ
Surprisingly, what would become a very offensive game with eight total goals scored started out slow, with only one shot on goal for the first five minutes of the period. The pace of play remained the same until Dylan Larkin buried his 14th of the season on the power play.  Detroit held their 1-0 lead for the remainder of the first and shots were 10-7 Coyotes.
Second PeriodÂ
It took only 1:53 for the Coyotes Radim Vrbata to get the equalizer, scoring his team-leading 17th goal of the season. Just two minutes later, the Coyotes took the lead as Alex Goligoski’s odd angle shot went off of Mike Green’s skate and past Mrazek.
It wouldn’t take long for the Red Wings to tie things up as Tomas Tatar one-timed Mike Green’s pass of the boards on the power play. The goal brought the Red Wings within one of their season-high 3 power play goals in a game. After 40 minutes of play, the score was 2-2, and shots were 19-17 Arizona.
Third Period and Overtime/ShootoutÂ
Detroit’s Mike Green would score the first of the third period’s four goals, splitting the Coyotes’ defense and going backhand, blocker side on Smith. The goal came off of a brilliant play by Henrik Zetterberg, where the Red Wings Captain faked dumping in the puck and instead elected to pass to Green.
Minutes later, the Coyotes Lawson Crouse and Alex Goligoski caught Detroit flat-footed, created a 2 on 1 and fired home a short-handed goal, tying the game at 3. After that, with seven minutes left Henrik Zetterberg collected his second point of the night, finding the back of the net right out of the box. The Coyotes would give up so easily, as Jakob Chychrun sent the game into overtime, scoring with just 2:30 left. The score remained tied at 4 after overtime and the Red Wings held a 33-26 shot advantage after 65:00.
Gustav Nyqvist would score the lone goal of the shootout, going five hole on Mike Smith. The Coyotes’ Brendan Perlini, Radim Vrbata and Oliver Ekman-Larsson, along with Detroit’s Frans Nielsen would all miss, giving the Red Wings a 5-4 win in the shootout.
Box ScoreÂ
Source: nhl.com
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