Todd Bertuzzi went with an old, reliable move and helped the Detroit Red Wings end an uncharacteristic losing skid.
Bertuzzi beat Chris Mason high with a backhander in the fourth round of the shootout to give the Red Wings a 4-3 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night.
Detroit’s Pavel Datsyuk and St. Louis’ Andy McDonald also scored in the tiebreaker, both in the first round.
Bertuzzi, who watched closely as Datsyuk also beat Mason by roofing a backhand into the net, skated wide to the left before waiting Mason out and lifting the winner high into the net.
“It was an uglier version of Pavel’s goal,” Bertuzzi said. “I’ve spent a lot of time working on that. On previous teams, I’ve done it quite a bit, so I’m pretty comfortable doing it. It was nice to be put in that spot to do it.”
Henrik Zetterberg had a goal and an assist, Tomas Holmstrom and Kris Draper added goals and Jimmy Howard made 32 saves to help Detroit snap a three-game losing streak.
“Overall, we found a way to do it,” Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. “Obviously, things haven’t gone well for us here of late. But we’ve played real well.”
PENGUINS 8, RANGERS 3: Sidney Crosby had his fourth career hat trick and added two assists for his second five-point game as host Pittsburgh won for the fourth time in five games. Crosby scored once in the first and twice in the third period and added two-first period assists to help the Penguins rout the Rangers, winless in regulation at Mellon Arena in their past 13 tries.
FLAMES 4, BLUE JACKETS 3. SO: In Columbus, Calgary backup Curtis McElhinney stopped Anton Stralman in the fourth round, and Jamie Lundmark followed with the shootout winner to lead Calgary. Making only his second start, McElhinney made 29 saves to push the Flames’ road points streak to nine games.
THRASHERS 1, FLYERS 0: Johan Hedberg made 34 saves for his first shutout in two years as host Atlanta stopped a 14-game losing streak against Philadelphia. Ending what was the NHL’s longest current losing streak against one opponent, the Thrashers won their third straight overall. Philadelphia has lost five of six.
CAPITALS 4, CANADIENS 3, SO: In Montreal,
Nicklas Backstrom scored the only shootout goal on Washington’s third attempt to lead the Capitals. Eric Fehr scored his second goal of the game to draw Washington even at 3 with 11.4 seconds remaining in regulation.
BRUINS 4, SENATORS 3, SO: Michael Ryder scored the lone goal in the shootout, lifting Boston to a comeback win at home. It was the fifth win in six games for the Bruins, who moved into first place in the Northeast Division after an injury-filled, sluggish start this season.
PREDATORS 4, PANTHERS 1: J.P. Dumont and David Legwand scored early in the third period and Dan Ellis made 23 saves to help Nashville to a home win. Dan Hamhuis and Joel Ward also scored for Nashville. Jordan Leopold scored for the Panthers. Florida has lost four in a row.
WILD 3, AVALANCHE 2, SO: Mikko Koivu and Andrew Ebbett scored in the shootout, and Josh Harding stopped both of Colorado’s shooters to lead visiting Minnesota.
SABRES 5, HURRICANES 1: Ryan Miller made 30 saves and Buffalo scored five goals in the third period to keep Carolina as the NHL’s lone team without a win away from home (0-10-3).
DEVILS 6, ISLANDERS 1: Brian Rolston and Patrik Elias each had two goals and two assists and Martin Brodeur made 22 saves to lead New Jersey, which extended its home-ice winning streak to six.
STARS 4, LIGHTNING 3, OT: Tom Wandell scored at 2:12 of OT to lead host Dallas. Tampa Bay rallied from two goals down to send it to OT.
