Recap: Pickard's strong play in goal helps Red Wings top Penguins, 3-2

In his first start of the season, Detroit Red Wings goalie Calvin Pickard made 36 saves to guide the Wings past the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-2, at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday night.
With the win, Detroit ended a three-game losing streak.

In the opening period, Detroit jumped to an early 1-0 lead when Givani Smith scored his third goal of the season. Filip Zadina scored a power-play goal late in the second period, and Lucas Raymond netted the eventual game-winner in the shootout.
Of Pickard's 36 saves, seven were against the Penguins' power-play unit.
Detroit improved to 19-19-6 this season, and is 6-12-3 on the road.
NEXT UP: The Red Wings will wrap up the second half of a back-to-back when they face the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night. Puck drop from Little Caesars Arena is set for 7 p.m., with broadcast coverage on Bally Sports Detroit and the Red Wings Radio Network.
SCORING SUMMARY
Detroit 1, Pittsburgh 0 (18:19, 1st period)
Detroit started the scoring late in the first. After Joe Veleno intercepted a pass from Mike Matheson, his shot was deflected. The puck went to Sam Gagner, who fired a shot at Penguins netminder Casey DeSmith. A spinning Smith gathered the rebound and slid the puck past DeSmith for his first goal in the past 16 contests.

Pittsburgh 1, Detroit 1 (5:54, 2nd period)
The Penguins answered on the power play as Jake Guentzel corralled a rebound off a shot from Sidney Crosby, then sent one past Pickard. It was Pittsburgh's eighth goal on the man-advantage in the last 10 games.
Detroit 2, Pittsburgh 1 (16:31, 2nd period)
After a shot by Nick Leddy bounced in front of the Pittsburgh crease, Zadina cleaned up the rebound for his fifth goal of the season, and the first in the past 19 games. Michael Rasmussen also tallied an assist.

Pittsburgh 2, Detroit 2 (00:27, 3rd Period)
Crosby sent an impressive pass through traffic to Guentzel, who scored his second goal of the night to send the game to overtime.
Shootout
After Raymond scored in the first round of the shootout, Pickard stopped both of Pittsburgh's attempts in the second and third rounds to send Detroit home with two points.

QUOTABLE
Pickard on his shootout mindset against the Penguins
"Be patient. Obviously, you see those guys scoring all the time in shootouts. I wanted to challenge them, be patient and let them make the first move."
Pickard on what the victory means to him
"Any game in the NHL that you win, it's a really good feeling. Obviously, I want to build off it."
Jeff Blashill on Zadina's power-play goal
"It's hard to beat goalies from, not even the outside, but just even in the upper slot. So, you got to find ways to score net-front-type goals. It was great for him to be there, and it was a good mentality by that unit to shoot the puck."
Blashill on what the Red Wings' attitude
"I thought our guys did a real good job of showing up and playing the right way. Our guys want to win. I do, 100 percent, believe they want to play the right way. It's a process at times, to learn how to do that, and they're working towards that. I think the character of our group is excellent. We just got to keep grinding."