DETROIT -- Marian Gaborik and Josh Harding cooled off the
NHL-leading Detroit Red Wings.
Gaborik scored on the final attempt in a shootout and Harding
made 26 saves in relief, lifting the Minnesota Wild to a 6-5 win
over Detroit on Thursday night.
"If he wouldn't have made the saves that he did, I know there's
no way," said Wild coach Jacques Lemaire, who benched Niklas
Backstrom after he gave up four goals in 1½ periods.
The Red Wings appeared to have the game in hand with 1:08 left
in regulation, when they went ahead for the first time on Dan
Cleary's goal.
But less than 20 seconds later, Eric Belanger grabbed a
fluttering puck and lifted it past Chris Osgood to force overtime.
"We had the lead in the final minute and 99.9 percent of the
time, we close out the game," Cleary said
In the shootout, Brian Rolston and Gaborik scored while Jiri
Hudler was the only Red Wing to get a shot past Harding.
Osgood had a rough night, giving up a goal on the first shot he
faced and allowing a season-high five goals shortly after he was
named an All-Star and one day following the announcement of his
three-year contract.
"Things had been going so well for me and the team," said
Osgood, who had 23 saves. "I've had some lucky breaks and so have
we, but this was the first time all year that the puck was
ricocheting around and going in our net."
Backstrom was pulled after giving up four goals on 19 shots,
including Niklas Kronwall's tying goal at 8:38 of the second
period.
Harding kept the Wild in the game, turning away a slew of shots,
including two quality scoring chances Pavel Datsyuk had in the
third and stopping him and Henrik Zetterberg in the shootout.
Zetterberg, Valtteri Filppula, Dallas Drake and Kronwall scored
for Detroit, which had won four straight.
Martin Skoula, Gaborik, Todd Fedoruk and Matt Foy had goals in
regulation for the Wild, who were sold earlier in the day to former
Nashville Predators owner Craig Leipold.
"It was a busy day, winning a game against this team, which we
don't do too often, and getting new owners," Lemaire said. "It's
a big day."
The new owner had to like the results of his first game, beating
a team that entered the matchup 20-3-2 since mid-November.
Detroit began the day with at least 10 more points than any team
in the NHL and were playing a team that had lost two straight on
the road.
"Every once in a while you need a reminder in life that you've
got to work hard and you've got to work for 60 minutes," Red Wings
coach Mike Babcock said.
Skoula had a goal 4-plus minutes into the game. Zetterberg then
scored for the 27th time, but the Wild had two goals in a 15-second
span to go ahead by two goals for the first of two times. Filppula
pulled Detroit to 3-2 in the final minute of the opening period.
Foy scored early in the second period, then the Red Wings
overcame a two-goal deficit again with Drake's short-handed goal
and Kronwall's goal in a 1:06 span.
"We haven't had one of those for ages," Osgood said. "We
aren't used to those kind of run-and-gun games. We were down twice,
didn't shut it down, kept fighting back. That was a good."
Minnesota beat Detroit for just the seventh time in 27 meetings
since entering the league during the 2000-01 season. The Red Wings
won the first two meetings this season by a combined score of 9-1.
"We don't win here very often. I don't think any team does,"
Nick Schultz said. "It's one of the hardest buildings to play in
and they are the elite team in the league now."<
^Notes: Osgood entered the game giving up an NHL-low 1.7 goals a
game and tying the league high with a .932 save percentage and no
one could compare to his 19-2-1 record. He had allowed four goals
only once before this season, winning the game in a shootout on
Nov. 18 at Columbus. ... Mikko Koivu (broken leg) is expected to
play for the first time since mid-November on Friday night in
Chicago.