Tyler Bertuzzi and Jonathan Ericsson scored unusual goals in the first 10 minutes of the third period Sunday as the Detroit Red Wings earned their first regulation victory of the season by beating the visiting Dallas Stars 4-2.
Anthony Mantha and Justin Abdelkader also scored for the Red Wings, who have lost nine of 11 to open the season and still have the fewest points in the NHL (six). Detroit's previous victory was a 4-3 overtime win against the Florida Panthers on Oct. 20.
Detroit's Jonathan Bernier made 28 saves.
Gemel Smith and Radek Faksa scored for the Stars, who had a two-game winning streak snapped. Goalie Ben Bishop recorded 19 saves.
Bertuzzi scored the tiebreaking goal in fluky fashion 4:59 into the third period to give the Red Wings a 2-1 lead. Kronwall, who was just in front of center ice, dumped the puck behind the Stars' net, where Bishop went to corral it. However, the puck took a quirky bounce and skittered past Bishop to Bertuzzi, who tucked the shot into the net before Bishop could get back into position.
Ericsson added what proved to be the winning goal at the 9:20 mark, when his shot from just inside the blue line sailed past Bishop, who was screened by teammates Jason Dickinson and Connor Carrick as well as the Red Wings' Mantha and Thomas Vanek.
Faksa scored with 37 seconds left to pull the Stars within 3-2, but Abdelkader scored an empty-netter just 13 seconds later to put the game away.
Smith capped an end-to-end rush to put the Stars ahead 11:44 into the first. Smith skated past Red Wings center Dylan Larkin, and with Darren Helm trying to poke the puck free from behind, fired a shot that went past the extended stick of Niklas Kronwall and underneath Bernier's arm.
The Red Wings tied the game early in the second following a flurry in the Stars' zone. Gustav Nyquist cleared the puck by firing it off the boards behind the net. The puck bounced to Mike Green, whose shot missed the net but bounced right to Nyquist, who was still stationed to the left of Bishop. Nyquist passed to Mantha on the other side of the net, and Mantha slipped a shot between Dallas defenseman Esa Lindell and Bishop.
--Field Level Media
Dallas | Detroit | |
John Klingberg 2 | Points | Dylan Larkin 2 |
Radek Faksa 1 | Goals | Justin Abdelkader 1 |
John Klingberg 2 | Assists | Dylan Larkin 2 |
N/A | Power Play Goals | N/A |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Ben Bishop .864 | Save Percentage | Jonathan Bernier .933 |
Ben Bishop 19 | Saves | Jonathan Bernier 28 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Dallas | 30 | 2 | 0-1 | 3-3 | 6 | 23 |
Detroit | 23 | 4 | 0-3 | 1-1 | 2 | 27 |