Wings outlast Flyers in eight-round shootout

For the second year in a row, the Philadelphia Flyers gave the fans who turned out for their annual preseason trip to the John Labatt Center in London, Ont., a night to remember.

One year after losing to Toronto in an 11-round shootout, the Flyers again provided plenty of bonus hockey. Wayne Simmonds' goal in the final minute of regulation sent the game into overtime, and it wasn't until Detroit defenseman Ian White scored in the eighth round of the shootout that the Wings left with a 4-3 win.

White's third-period goal had given the Wings a 3-1 lead. Darren Helm had a shorthanded goal in the first period for the Wings, and Valtteri Filppula scored in the second to make it 2-0. James van Riemsdyk and Matt Carle scored for the Flyers, who were playing their third game in three nights after splitting a pair with Toronto. Carle's goal with 2:45 left cut the margin to 3-2.

"We showed some resilience," van Riemsdyk said. "It's easy to get down when you're chasing the whole game. We kept fighting and we were rewarded for all the hard work we put in."

The Flyers, who underwent a massive makeover during the offseason, were outplayed for much of the game but forced OT when Simmonds, one of the newcomers, took a shot from the right corner that deflected into the net off rookie goaltender Jordan Pearce with 53 seconds left in the third period.

"I just fired it hoping a teammate could deflect it; it went in off the goalie's inside pad," he said. "But I'll take it. As they say, it's not how, it's how many."

Wild 1, Blues 0

New coach Mike Yeo has been preaching defensive responsibility in Minnesota. He got what he was looking for in St. Louis, though some good goaltending didn't hurt. Warren Peters scored late in the second period and the tandem of Niklas Backstrom and rookie Matt Hackett made it stand up to give the Wild its second win in as many preseason games.

"It's just fun to have 20 guys play in the system and battle hard for each other," Backstrom, who stopped 18 shots in two periods, told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. "That’s a good start."

Hackett, a third-round pick in 2010, turned aside all 14 shots in faced in the third period, when the Wild -- who used a rookie-filled lineup -- managed just one shot on the way to being outshot 31-17.

"Big win. Really fought hard with a lot of young guys," Eric Nystrom, one of the few veterans to make the trip, tweeted after the game.

Peters scored at 16:33 of the second period, beating Jaroslav Halak with a backhander shot from a tough angle on right wing.

"I thought I stopped it for sure, but then they started celebrating," Halak said.

Stars 5, Avalanche 2

Jordan Benn, older brother of Dallas forward Jamie Benn, broke a 2-2 tie by scoring 22 seconds into the third period as the Stars connected three times in the final 20 minutes to beat Colorado in new coach Glen Gulutzan's first home game.

Jordie Benn

Defense - DAL

GOALS: - | ASST: - | PTS: -
SOG: - | +/-: -

Benn beat goaltender Trevor Cann from the slot to put the Stars ahead to stay. Loui Eriksson and Steve Ott added insurance goals. Rookie Colton Sceviour scored in each of the first two periods for the Stars.

"I just wanted to go out there, work hard and see what happened," Sceviour said. "To score one goal is nice. To get two is pretty great."

The new coach liked what he saw.

"Guys have to work hard," said Gulutzan, who coached the Stars' AHL affiliate last season. "We have more depth, and we have to utilize that by being a team that's hard to play against. That's what we're preaching here -- the identity of a hard-working, two-way club."

First-year players Tyson Barrie and Brad Malone had power-play goals for Colorado. Malone's goal against 2010 first-rounder Jack Campbell tied the game at 2-2.

Material from team media was used in this report.