Mikael Samuelsson scored a goal and added an assist as the Detroit Red Wings extended their winning streak to five games with a 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks Sunday night.
Tomas Holmstrom and Jiri Hudler also scored for Detroit, which improved to 9-2-1, best in the NHL, with its second win over Vancouver in five days.
Red Wings' Jiri Hudler watches the puck fall into the net past Vancouver goalie Roberto Luongo.
(Richard Lam/Canadian Press)
"When they scored, we scored right after," said Samuelsson. "That was the key tonight. We bounced back right away and they didn't get any momentum going."
Henrik Zetterberg, the NHL's leading scorer, also earned an assist to extend his point streak to 12 games.
The Canucks thought they had tied the game with just 28 seconds left in regulation. With goaltender Roberto Luongo off for an extra attacker, Taylor Pyatt looked like he had jammed the puck into the net.
Referee Steve Kozari instantly waved the goal off, saying the whistle had blown and goaltender Chris Osgood had been pushed into the net.
"I didn't hear the whistle," said Pyatt. "The puck was there and I thought it should have been a goal."
Osgood, who made 27 saves to keep his record a perfect 5-0 this season, said there's no way the goal should have been allowed.
"I knew right away it wasn't in," said Osgood, making his second start for Dominik Hasek who is out with a hip injury.
"It was between my knees. You can't push me in the net. It wasn't as big a deal as they made it out to be."
Matt Cooke and Markus Naslund scored for Vancouver, which dropped to 5-7-0. The struggling Canucks are 1-5 in homes games this year and 2-5 in their last seven games.
"We have to come out better than we have been at home earlier in games and kind of take it over early," said Naslund.
Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault criticized his defence, especially Willie Mitchell and Kevin Bieksa, who were on the ice for the first two Detroit goals.
"Obviously those two guys aren't playing at the level we need them to play," said Vigneault. "Willie Mitchell … got beat twice. That's not the Willie Mitchell we know as a defensive specialist."
Hudler's goal, with one minute left in the second period, gave Detroit a 3-2 lead after 40 minutes. The Red Wings scored with 16.2 seconds remaining in the first to lead 2-1.
Vancouver made the score 2-2 at 15:01 of the second off a scramble. Taylor Pyatt fired a shot that Osgood stopped, but Naslund was able to bang in the rebound for his fourth goal of the year.
The Canucks got off to a good start, giving the sellout crowd of 18,630 something to cheer about when Cooke opened the scoring at 5:48. The feisty winger was able to take the rebound of a Trevor Linden shot and put it past Osgood.
It took Detroit just 12 seconds to get that goal back. The cheers hadn't died down from the Canuck score when Pavel Datsyuk fired a shot that Luongo stopped.
Holmstrom was left alone to scoop up a big rebound and put it into the net.
Luongo's best save of the night came in the second period when he gloved a Zetterberg backhand off a breakaway.
Luongo, who made 29 saves, said the late goals killed his team.
"Those are tough to take in a tight game," he said. "Those are the goals you don't want to be giving up."
Linden's assist on Cooke's goal was his 411th as a Canuck, tying him for the franchise lead with Stan Smyl.
