Red Wings open Little Caesars Arena with win against Wild

DETROIT-- The Detroit Red Wings opened Little Caesars Arena with a 4-2 win against the Minnesota Wild on Thursday.

After the Wild had two goals disallowed in the first period, Anthony Mantha scored on a power play at 14:40 of the second to give the Red Wings a 1-0 lead.
"That was an awesome feeling," Mantha said. "All day, I had been thinking about how special it would be to get the first goal in this building, and then it happened."
WATCH: [All Wild vs. Red Wings highlights]
Henrik Zetterberg gave Detroit a 3-2 lead at 7:07 of the third period. Martin Frk made it 4-2 at 10:39 with his first NHL goal.
"I'm going to enjoy this tonight," said Frk, who also had his first NHL assist. "I'll have a beer with my girlfriend and my dog, then get back to work tomorrow."
Joel Eriksson Ek and Chris Stewart scored for Minnesota 48 seconds apart in the third period to tie the game 2-2 at 2:48.

Mantha had a goal and two assists, and Mike Green had four assists for Detroit. Jimmy Howard made 37 saves for the Red Wings in his 200th NHL win. Devan Dubnyk stopped 27 shots for the Wild.
Eric Staal and Ryan Suter each put the puck past Howard in the first period, but each goal was disallowed for goaltender interference after replay reviews.
"They were the right calls," Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said.
Detroit then killed a 97-second, 5-on-3 power play early in the second period.
"That was a huge point in the game," Howard said. "The guys were creating [and] clearing everything out for me. That's the only way we get through that."

Mantha scored on a 5-on-3 power play at 14:40 of the second period by tapping in Frk's rebound from the edge of the crease.
"We know when Marty gets the puck on the net, it is either going in or we're going to get a great rebound," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "Those are both situations we're happy to take."
Dylan Larkin gave Detroit a 2-0 lead at 15:03, beating Dubnyk with a tip of Green's shot on the power play.
"You have to win the special-teams battle to win games in this league," Stewart said. "We didn't score on the 5-on-3, and then we let them get two on theirs. That was huge."
The Wild made it 2-1 at 2:00 of the third period, with Eriksson Ek knocking Stewart's pass past Howard. Minnesota tied it 2-2 at 2:48 when Stewart was left alone at the edge of the crease to score off a Tyler Ennis pass.
"It's deflating to battle back into the game and then let it get away again," Boudreau said. "We took our foot off the gas, and hopefully we will learn from it."

Goal of the game

With the game tied 2-2 in the third period, Zetterberg got to a loose puck between the face-off circles and put a wrist shot between Dubnyk's legs.

Save of the game

During Minnesota's 5-on-3 in the second period, Wild forward Nino Niederreiter got the puck at the edge of a crowded crease, but Howard kicked out his skate to deflect the shot.

Highlight of the game

With the game 0-0 in the first period, Detroit forward Gustav Nyquist beat Minnesota defenseman Matt Dumba and broke in alone on Dubnyk, who lunged too early, ended up flat on his back, but reached to stop the shot with the back of his catching glove.

They said it

"The two power-play goals were obviously a big part of the game. We get down 5-on-3, and they take two shots [that] are going well wide and they end up in the net." -- Minnesota goalie Devyn Dubnyk on Detroit's first two goals
"This is unlike any other rink I've ever played in, and that's going to give us an identity as a team. It's huge, but it doesn't feel that way on the ice. We got a lot of energy from that." -- Detroit defenseman Mike Green

Need to know

Howard is 200-124-54 in 402 NHL games since making his debut on Nov. 28, 2005. … The Red Wings played at Joe Louis Arena from 1979-80 until last season.

What's next

Wild:At the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; FS-CR, FS-N, NHL.TV)
Red Wings:At the Ottawa Senators on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; SN1, FS-D)