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The Detroit Red Wings are suddenly money in the shootout.
They are also inching their way back into the NHL’s Eastern Conference playoff race.
Wednesday, Thomas Vanek and Frans Nielsen each scored in the shootout as the Wings rallied from a 4-1 first-period deficit to record a 6-5 victory over the Boston Bruins.
The victory moved Detroit to within four points of third place in the Atlantic Division and also to within four points of the final Eastern Conference wild card position.
The Wings are 6-0 now in the shootout. Last season, they were 2-5, 27th overall in the NHL. Over the past four seasons, Detroit went a dismal 13-29 in the skills competition that decides the outcome of tie games.
“We’ve got confidence because we’ve done a good job on them,” said Detroit coach Jeff Blashill, who felt acquiring two proven shootout veterans in the off-season has made a significant difference.
“When you add Vanek, when you add Nielsen, they’re really good in shootouts.”
Nielsen is 44-for-86 lifetime in the shootout. That’s tied with Arizona’s Radim Vrbata for the all-time lead in career shootout goals. Nielsen’s 19 shootout-deciding goals are an NHL record.
Vanek is four-for-four this season. He’s the only NHLer this season to take at least four shots and still be 100 percent.
Vanek shares the NHL lead in shootout goals with Florida’s Vincent Trocheck and Aleksander Barkov, Philadelphia’s Jakub Voracek, and Edmonton’s Mark Letestu.
Rally Caps On
It didn’t look to be a promising night for the Wings when they fell behind 4-1 after 20 minutes against a team they are pursuing the playoff race.
“It’s disappointing to give them a point,” Blashill admitted. “We wanted to come out of here with two points and them have none, but given the start, it was a big two points.
“We said it at the beginning of the game, if we want to finish in front of that team we have to beat them. We found a way to beat them tonight.”
Coreau Chased
Rookie Jared Coreau got the start in goal off his 1-0 shutout of Montreal but he was chased in favor of Petr Mrazek after allowing three goals on seven shots in the first 8:50 of the game.
“First of all, let me be very clear, that had nothing to do with Jared’s play,” Blashill said. “I thought Jared made a huge save in that first 30 seconds, a couple of big saves, and the puck went in. I didn’t think that had anything to do with his play.
“I thought obviously we weren’t ready to play and they out-competed us and as a result we were down, so I made the change.”
Mrazek won for the first time since Dec. 17.
“I thought Petr came in and played excellent,” Blashill said. “To be honest with you, I thought Petr has been playing very good. He hasn’t had results he’s wanted and the pucks have gone in the net, but I think he’s actually played very well.”
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