EDMONTON -- The Detroit Red Wings knew they’d have their work cut out for them against the formidable Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place on Thursday night.
But the Red Wings proved they were up to the task, rallying from a two-goal first-period deficit to extend their winning streak to four consecutive games with a 3-2 shootout victory over the defending Western Conference champions.
“It was a big win,” said Detroit captain Dylan Larkin, who scored his club-leading 22nd goal of the season in the second period. “It’s always a hard start in this building. We learned our lesson last year, I think we were down 2-0 after the first shift of the game. We came in the room down two, and we knew we had better. We knew we’d get our legs going from the travel day yesterday, and we did just that. From the second and third [periods] on, we played a pretty solid road hockey game.”
Finishing with a season-high 45 saves, goalie Alex Lyon helped the Red Wings (25-21-5; 55 points) earn their second straight multi-goal comeback win and third of the season. As for the Oilers (32-15-4; 68 points), they saw netminder Stuart Skinner make 33 saves.
“I thought Alex was obviously key to the victory,” Detroit head coach Todd McLellan said. “He faced a lot of shots, not all dangerous, but there were some succession-type shots that he had to be alert and get us some whistles when we broke down. That’s why the goalie wears the same color jersey as everybody else -- he’s there to provide us that security, and he did that.”