Red Wings Rebound but Fall to Oilers in Shootout

The Detroit Red Wings rallied from a 2-0 deficit in the third period to take a late 3-2 lead Tuesday night but were unable to hold on, falling to the Edmonton Oilers 4-3 in a shootout.

The point earned was just Detroit’s third in the last ten games, a slump that coincides with injuries to most of their defensemen.

Rookie Jonathan Ericsson, in the lineup to fill in on the depleted blueline, started Detroit’s comeback at 5:42 of the third period.

With the Red Wings on the power play, Valtteri Filppula sent a pass from the bottom of the left faceoff circe to Ericsson up high for a one-timer that found its way through Edmonton goalie Mathieu Garon.

Pavel Datsyuk added a second power play goal with 7:42 left in regulation, rifling a shot from the left circle over Garon’s shoulder.

Detroit took the lead with 2:16 remaining on a Valtteri Filppula goal. A stretch pass from Brett Lebda sprung Filppula into the Edmonton zone. Unable to control the puck quickly, he was left to throw a shot on net from an acute angle but it found a way into the net.

The Oilers tied the game back up with 29 seconds left, when Fernando Pisani lifted a rebound over Detroit netminder Chris Osgood in a goal-mouth scramble.

Robert Nilsson scored the only goal of the shootout to win the game for Edmonton, putting a shot past Osgood’s glove in the third round of the tiebreaker.

The Oilers had opened the scoring at 2:54 of the second period. Osgood scrambled to make a series of saves but Tom Gilbert was left open at the bottom of the left circle to take a pass and lift a shot into the net.

Geoff Sanderson extended the lead at 1:44 of the third, taking an outlet pass from Jarret Stoll and catching Ericsson flat-footed at the Detroit blueline to race in alone on Osgood and put a shot between his pads.

Osgood finished the night with 26 saves on 29 shots. Garon stopped 40 of 43 Detroit chances.

Detroit’s recently-struggling power play made good on two of seven opportunities while the Oilers went one-for-six.

---

Trade deadline acquisition Brad Stuart was not in the Detroit lineup.