A career night from Tyler Bertuzzi helped the Detroit Red Wings earn something positive in an otherwise negative stretch.
Bertuzzi scored his first career hat trick to help Detroit earn a 5-2 win over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday in Saint Paul, Minn.
The Red Wings won for just the second time in 11 games and also cooled off a Wild team that had won four of its previous five games.
Detroit dominated, outshooting the Wild by 37-19 margin.
After allowing a goal 13 seconds into the game against Winnipeg on Friday, the Red Wings pulled that trick on the Wild, scoring 24 seconds into the game to take a 1-0 lead.
Bertuzzi camped himself near the front of the Minnesota goal and tipped home a shot from the point by Gustav Nyquist.
The Wild answered later in the first period, tying the score at 1-1 with 3:00 left in the first on a goal by Luke Kunin, who skated in on a partial breakaway and beat Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard on the stick side.
It was Kunin's first goal of the season.
The teams started off the second period with a bang, with each scoring in the first minute.
Just 17 seconds into the second, Minnesota took a 2-1 lead on a power-play goal by Nino Niederreiter but Detroit answered 28 seconds later on a goal by Thomas Vanek that tied the score at 2-2.
Detroit then took a 3-2 lead with 4:50 left in the second period on another goal by Vanek, who fired home a shot from the top of the faceoff circles.
Only 47 seconds into the third period, Bertuzzi netted his second goal of the game, tipping home a shot from the point to give Detroit a 4-2 lead.
Bertuzzi then scored his third goal later in the third, walking out in front of the Minnesota goal and lifting a backhand underneath the crossbar to make it 5-2 Red Wings with 11:22 left in the game.
--Field Level Media
Detroit | Minnesota | |
Tyler Bertuzzi 3 | Points | Luke Kunin 1 |
Tyler Bertuzzi 3 | Goals | Luke Kunin 1 |
Dylan Larkin 3 | Assists | Mikko Koivu 1 |
N/A | Power Play Goals | Nino Niederreiter 1 |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Jimmy Howard .889 | Save Percentage | Devan Dubnyk .865 |
Jimmy Howard 16 | Saves | Devan Dubnyk 32 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Detroit | 37 | 5 | 0-4 | 2-3 | 6 | 33 |
Minnesota | 18 | 2 | 1-3 | 4-4 | 8 | 26 |