Red Wings win seesaw game with Coyotes

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Petr Mrazek made 22 saves and then three in the shootout to give the Detroit Red Wings a 5-4 win against the Arizona Coyotes at Gila River Arena on Thursday.
Gustav Nyquist scored the only goal of the shootout, and Mrazek stopped attempts by Brendan Perlini, Radim Vrbata and Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Detroit improved to an NHL-best 8-0 in shootouts this season.

"Coming into the game Arizona] was second-best in the League [at 6-1] so it was two teams who have done well in shootouts," Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. "Our goalies have done a real good job of stopping pucks in that situation and we've got guys who can score."
**WATCH: [All Red Wings vs. Coyotes highlights**
The game was tied four times, the last by Coyotes defenseman Jacob Chychrun, who made it 4-4 with 2:30 left in the third period.
Dylan Larkin, Tomas Tatar, Mike Green and Henrik Zetterberg scored for the Red Wings (27-31-11), who were 1-5-1 in the prior seven games and coming off a disappointing 3-1 loss against the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday.

"It was a tough loss last night and with a back-to-back, but we found a way to come back energized," Zetterberg said. "We always have a lot of fans in this building, which makes it fun to come here and play. They really helped us get the two points."
Vrbata, Alex Goligoski and Lawson Crouse scored for the Coyotes (26-35-9), and Mike Smith made 29 saves for Arizona, which has points in six of the past seven games (4-1-2).
"You score four goals in this League you should win," Smith said. "They bailed me out and got a point there, and I wasn't able to win the shootout. But we're hanging around games and that's good to see."

Detroit entered with eight power-play goals in 98 chances on the road (8.2 percent) but scored on two of their first three against Arizona.
Riley Sheahan swept out a power-play rebound to Larkin, who beat the fallen Smith over the glove at 8:11 of the first period to make it 1-0.
Vrbata scored off a pass from Christian Dvorak over Mrazek's blocker for his Coyotes-leading 17th goal to make it 1-1 at 1:53 of the second period. Goligoski's pass deflected off the skate of Green to put Arizona up 2-1 2:03 later.
Green's power-play shot attempt bounced off the back boards right to Tatar, who made it 2-2 at 4:45. The Red Wings went up 3-2 at 3:32 of the third period when Green beat Smith.

"It was an emotional game," Green said. "We'd be up and then we'd get a bad bounce and we'd be tied up again. But we were resilient and we kept our composure [and were] able to answer with extra goals."
Arizona tied it 3-3 at 7:37 when Crouse took a 2-on-1 pass from Goligoski and scored shorthanded with a wrist shot. Zetterberg gave Detroit a 4-3 lead at 13:55, beating Smith between the pads.
Arizona forward Shane Doan left the game in the second period with a lower-body injury and defenseman Luke Schenn left after going head-first into the boards late in the third period.

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Goal of the game

Zetterberg faked a dump-in and instead put a pass on Green's tape with speed. Green split two defenders and beat Smith with a backhander.

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Save of the game

Mrazek stoned Doan with a pad save on a breakaway in the first period.

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Unsung performance of the game

Arizona forward Josh Jooris won 10 of 14 faceoffs (71 percent), had two hits and blocked a shot in 14:01. He also played 3:35 on the penalty kill.

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Highlight of the game

Chychrun waited for traffic to form before tying the game a fourth time.

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They said it

"We always found a way to come back and we got it to a shootout, which shows the character and growth of this team. We know we have to go further and push harder and we're being rewarded for it." -- Arizona forward Radim Vrbata
"I was hoping he was shooting high glove. When he stopped in front of me I just put the glove a little bit down and I was [showing] him the high glove there and then put the glove back." -- Detroit goalie Petr Mrazek on stopping Radim Vrbata, who is the all-time NHL leader with 45 shootout goals

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Need to know

Zetterberg has 16 points (two goals, 14 assists) in the past 12 games. ... Zetterberg scored his 324th goal with Detroit, tying him with Norm Ullman for sixth place in Red Wings history. ... Chychrun has seven goals, second to Zach Werenski of the Columbus Blue Jackets (11) among rookie defensemen.

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What's next

Red Wings: Host the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday (1 p.m. ET; ALT, FS-D, NHL.TV)
Coyotes: Host the St. Louis Blues on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; FS-A, FS-MW, NHL.TV)