Red Wings Rally but Fall to Oilers in Shootout

The Detroit Red Wings spent almost the entire game Friday night rallying to pull even with the Edmonton Oilers but ended up dropping a 3-2 shootout decision.

Edmonton had a 2-0 lead before five minutes had been played and the Red Wings used every second of the remaining 55 minutes to tie things back up. Brian Rafalski forced overtime with 0.2 seconds remaining in regulation.

Andrew Cogliano opened the game’s scoring just 57 seconds into the game, scoring into the open side of the net on a cross-crease feed from Gilbert Brule.

4:01 later, Ryan Whitney scored his first goal as an Oiler, cutting from the top of the left circle in low to snap a shot past Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard.

Patrick Eaves put the Red Wings on the board with 8:09 left in the second period. Kris Draper raced in behind the Edmonton goal on the forecheck and won the puck, sending it out to Eaves in the right circle for a one-timer past Edmonton netminder Devan Dubnyk.

Rafalski tied the game when Henrik Zetterberg dug the puck out from under Edmonton Theo Peckham in the corner. With nearly everyone on the ice having moved to the left corner, Pavel Datsyuk sent it across for Brian Rafalski to bang into the net from the far side of the crease.

Ryan Potulny and Gilbert Brule scored on Edmonton’s first two shootout attempts before Howard stopped Robert Nilsson. Pavel Datsyuk rang a backhand chance off the post and Jason Williams scored before Valtteri Filppula was stopped to ensure the Oilers’ win.

Howard made 22 saves on 24 shots on the night. Edmonton took 13 of those shots in the first ten minutes of play. Dubnyk made 31 saves on 33 Detroit chances in earning his first career victory.

---

Eaves left the game with an upper-body injury after the second period… Combined with Calgary’s win in San Jose Friday night, the Red Wings are now tied with the Flames for eighth place in the Western Conference. Detroit has one game in hand.