The Nashville Predators came from behind in a shootout on Tuesday to hand the Detroit Red Wings their first loss in seven games.
By losing out on the extra point, Detroit was unable to pull ahead of the Ottawa Senators for sole posession of first place in the league.
Nashville by scores of 1-0 and 2-1 after the first two rounds of the shootout but Steve Sullivan tied it in the third round and goalie Tomas Vokoun stopped Henrik Zetterberg to force sudden death rounds. The fourth round was scoreless and after the Predators took a 3-2 lead in the fifth round, Detroit captain Steve Yzerman scored to keep the Red Wings alive. Brendan Shanahan could not repeat the feat after Martin Erat scored for Nashville in the sixth round.
The first period was the only period of the game that saw any scoring, opening with a Nashville goal at 5:57, when Scott Hartnell deflected a shot from the blue line by Marek Zidlicky past Detroit netminder Manny Legace.
With the Red Wings on a two-man advantage at 9:34, Robert Lang tied the game, picking up a rebound that bounced around the crease and lifting it over the sprawling Vokoun.
Still on the power play just 57 seconds later, Shanahan tipped a centering pass by Zetterberg past Vokoun.
The Predators tied things back up with 5:09 remaining in the period while skating on a five-on-three of their own, as Steve Sullivan put home a rebound from the side of the net.
The Red Wings dominated the shooting in the second period and the Predators carried play in the third but neither team could break the tie. The best chance for either side came when Legace stopped Hartnell on a penalty shot with 5:12 remaining in regulation.
Legace finished the night with 34 saves on 36 shots, while Vokoun stopped 39 of 41 shots against.
Detroit’s power play went two-for-four and the Red Wings’ penalty killers allowed only one goal on six Nashville power plays.
The Red Wings will be back in action when the San Jose Sharks visit Joe Louis Arena on Thursday.
By picking up one point, the Red Wings became the second team to reach 100 points in the NHL standings, folowing Ottawa, who reached that point earlier in the night with a win over the Pittsburgh Penguins… The third round shoout miss by Henrik Zetterberg was his first missed shootout chance of the season… Jason Williams remained perfect in shootout chances, moving to four-for-four on the season.
