Detroit News staff and wires
The Red Wings moved into first place in the Atlantic Division on Monday with a 4-0 win in Vancouver.
They moved out of first place on Tuesday after Tampa Bay and Boston both won, moving one point ahead of the Red Wings in the tight battle for a playoff position.
In a story on nhl.com, Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman said the Stanley Cup playoff race has been “extremely exciting” and said they’ll need every point to make a run at the playoffs.
“I think it’s important for our team to understand, like, every single point could be the difference of us getting in or out,” Yzerman said at the NHL Board of Governors meeting in Colorado Springs, Col.
“Think of two years ago, when we missed by a point. I don’t know where that point’s going to be, but let’s make sure we grab it, because it could be the difference.”
Yzerman also said he’s encouraged by the young players on the team. Nine of the 23 players on the team were selected since 2019, including Emmitt Finnie, Nate Danielson and Axel Sandin-Pellikka.
“They’ve changed the dynamics of our team a little bit,” he said. “A little bit more speed in our game. A little bit more skill they’ve added to the lineup. A little bit more energy.”
Tuesday NHL
Anaheim 4, (at) Pittsburgh 3 (OT): Beckett Sennecke scored a short-handed goal with 1 second remaining to force overtime, Leo Carlsson scored in the shootout and the Ducks won for their fifth win in seven games.
Ed-Red Wing Ville Husso made 45 saves, including seven in overtime, and stopped all three shots in the shootout. Jackson LaCombe and Troy Terry also scored for the Ducks.
Noel Acciari, Tommy Novak and former Red Wing Anthony Mantha scored for the Penguins, and Arturs Silovs stopped 25 shots as Pittsburgh suffered its second consecutive shootout loss.
(At) Philadelphia 4, San Jose 1: Travis Konecny got his 500th NHL point and Dan Vladar only had to make 17 saves as Philadelphia beat San Jose.
Vladar, a career backup with Boston and Calgary before signing with the Flyers in the offseason, was busy late when San Jose pulled goalie Alex Nedeljkovic with just under four minutes left.
The Sharks scored first when Collin Graf drilled home a cross-slot pass from John Klingberg 11:33 into the game.
Tampa Bay 6, (at) Montreal 1: Tampa Bay scored three times in the first period, Darren Raddysh scored a pair of third-period goals, and the Lightning coasted to a win over Montreal.
Brayden Point, Pontus Holmberg and Nikita Kucherov had goals in the first period to help the Lightning snap a four-game losing streak. Charle-Edouard D’Astous added a second-period goal for Tampa Bay.
Jonas Johansson made 26 saves in his fourth consecutive start in relief of Andrei Vasilevskiy, who was placed on injured reserve on Monday with an undisclosed injury.
(At) Carolina 4, Columbus 1: Eric Robinson ended a 10-game stretch without a goal by breaking a third-period tie and Carolina beat Buffalo.
Seth Jarvis, Jordan Staal and Jordan Martinook had Carolina’s other goals and Andrei Svechnikov supplied two assists. Brandon Bussi made 23 saves to improve his record to 9-1-0 for the Hurricanes.
Dmitri Voronkov scored on a first-period power play for the Blue Jackets, who’ve lost back-to-back games in regulation for the first time in more than a month.
New Jersey 4, (at) Ottawa 3: Cody Glass scored the tiebreaking goal on a wrist shot with 7:36 remaining, and New Jersey beat Ottawa to snap a five-game skid.
Arseny Gritsyuk had a goal and two assists for the Devils, who also got goals from Simon Nemec and Paul Cotter. New Jersey had scored just once over its previous three games.
The Senators were perfect on the power play. Drake Batherson scored twice with the man advantage and Tim Stutzle also had a power-play goal.
(At) N.Y. Islanders 5, Vegas 4 (SO): Emil Heineman scored in the fourth round of the shootout after New York allowed a tying goal in the closing seconds of regulation, and the Islanders beat Vegas.
Bo Horvat scored twice, while Marc Gatcomb and Simon Holmstrom also scored for the Islanders, who moved to 5-0 against Pacific Division opponents.
Pavel Dorofeyev tied the game for Vegas with 14 seconds remaining in regulation. Ivan Barbashev, Mitch Marner and Noah Hanifin added goals for the Golden Knights as their four-game win streak was halted.
Boston 5, (at) St. Louis 2: Mark Kastelic and Fraser Minten scored two goals each and Boston rallied to beat St. Louis.
Pavel Zacha scored an empty-net goal, while David Pastrnak had two assists in his first game since Nov. 16 after missing five games with an undisclosed injury.
Robert Thomas scored twice for the Blues and Joel Hofer made 26 saves.
Dallas 4, (at) Winnipeg 3: Jason Robertson scored his team-leading 19th goal and Mikko Rantanen had three assists as Dallas extended its point streak to 11 games with a victory over Winnipeg.
Esa Lindell, Roope Hintz and Alexander Petrovic also scored for Dallas (21-5-5). Wyatt Johnston added two assists, and Rantanen pushed his point streak to seven games (three goals, 11 assists).
Mark Scheifele scored twice for the Jets (14-14-1) in the opener of a four-game homestand. Logan Stanley also had a goal and Kyle Connor picked up a pair of assists.
Buffalo 4, (at) Edmonton 3 (OT): Alex Tuch scored 33 seconds into overtime and Buffalo snapped a three-game losing streak with a victory over Edmonton.
Josh Doan had a pair of goals and Tage Thompson had a goal and two assists for the Sabres, who won just their third road game of the season. Rasmus Dahlin had three assists.
Connor McDavid had two goals for the Oilers, including one with just two seconds remaining in regulation to send the game into overtime. Vasily Podkolzin also scored for the Oilers and Stuart Skinner made 24 stops.
(At) Nashville 4, Colorado 3 (SO): Ryan O’Reilly scored the only goal in a shootout to give Nashville a victory over Colorado.
Jonathan Marchessault, Reid Schaefer and Brady Skjei scored in regulation for the Predators (11-14-4), who have won three of four. Juuse Saros made 39 saves.
Brock Nelson, Artturi Lehkonen and Cale Makar scored for the NHL-leading Avalanche (21-2-7), who dropped to 0-4 in shootouts this season. Scott Wedgewood stopped 26 shots in regulation and overtime.
December schedules
Monday
â–¶ Red Wings 4, Vancouver 0
Wednesday
â–¶ Red Wings at Calgary, 8:30
â–¶ Milwaukee at Grand Rapids, 7
â–¶ Youngstown at NTDP U18, 10:30 a.m.
Thursday
â–¶ Red Wings at Edmonton, 9
Friday
â–¶ Michigan Tech at Ferris State, 7
â–¶ St. Thomas at Northern Michigan, 7
â–¶ NTDP U18 at St. Lawrence, 6
Saturday
â–¶ Red Wings at Chicago, 8
â–¶ Rockford at Grand Rapids, 7
â–¶ Michigan Tech at Ferris State, 6
â–¶ St. Thomas at Northern Michigan, 6
â–¶ NTDP U18 at Clarkston, 2
Sunday
â–¶ Grand Rapids at Chicago, 4
Tuesday, Dec. 16
â–¶ Islanders at Red Wings, 7
Wednesday, Dec. 17
â–¶ Mammoth at Red Wings, 7:30
â–¶ Grand Rapids at Iowa, 8
Friday, Dec. 19
â–¶ Grand Rapids at Iowa, 7
Saturday, Dec. 20
â–¶ Red Wings at Washington, 12:30
Sunday, Dec. 21
â–¶ Washington at Red Wings, 1
â–¶ Cleveland at Grand Rapids, 4
Tuesday, Dec. 23
â–¶ Dallas at Red Wings, 6:30
Saturday, Dec. 27
â–¶ Red Wings at Carolina, 7
â–¶ Grand Rapids at Milwaukee, 7
â–¶ Muskegon at NTDP U18, 7
Sunday, Dec. 28
â–¶ Toronto at Red Wings, 7
â–¶ Great Lakes Invitational at Grand Rapids
â–¶ Michigan Tech vs. Miami, 3:37
â–¶ Michigan State vs. Ferris State, 7
â–¶ NTDP U17 at Muskegon, 3
â–¶ NTDP U18 at Bowling Green, 7
Monday, Dec. 29
â–¶ Great Lakes Invitational at Grand Rapids
â–¶ MSU vs. Michigan Tech or Miami, TBA
Tuesday, Dec. 30
â–¶ Utica University at NTDP U18, 7
Wednesday, Dec. 31
â–¶ Winnipeg at Red Wings, 6:30
â–¶ Milwaukee at Grand Rapids, 6
Want to comment on this story? Become a subscriber today. Click here.