Valtteri Filppula scored twice to lead the Detroit Red Wings back from a 1-0 deficit Tuesday night and earn a 4-1 win over the visiting Dallas Stars.
Filppula got the Red Wings on the board with 6:46 left in the second period. Pavel Datsyuk stole the puck behind the Dallas net and sent a pass out to Filppula all alone in the slot for a shot past Dallas netminder Kari Lehtonen to tie the game, 1-1.
A Henrik Zetterberg goal with Detroit on a two-man advantage with 24 seconds left gave the team their first lead of the game, beating Lehtonen with a rocket shot from the top of the left faceoff circle.
Damien Brunner added his third career goal at 6:15 of the third period, deflecting a Johan Franzen shot out of the air and past Lehtonen.
Filppula closed out the scoring just 23 seconds later. Datsyuk drew three defenders in as he drove through the slot, then passed off to Filppula in the slot for a wrister past Lehtonen to make it 4-1.
Loui Eriksson had opened the game’s scoring at 10:22 of the middle period, knocking the rebound of a Cody Eakin chance past Jimmy Howard on a two-on-one.
Howard finished the night with 25 saves on 26 shots to get the win. Lehtonen stopped 21 of the 25 shots he faced in 55:15 of playing time before making way for Richard Bachman, who stopped two shots to close out the game.
Detroit went one-for-six on the power play while Dallas was scoreless on five tries with the extra attacker.
The Red Wings look to make it a streak on Friday when they host the St. Louis Blues.
Brian Lashoff was the healthy scratch on defense for the Red Wings, with Jakub Kindl sliding back into the lineup. Carlo Colaiacovo and Ian White remain on injured reserve… Darren Helm, Mikael Samuelsson (IR), and Jan Mursak (IR) were out up front… Tom McCollum once again backed up Jimmy Howard with Jonas Gustavsson still nursing a sore groin.
