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ST. PAUL, Minnesota (Ticker) -- The Minnesota Wild appeared intimidated when they faced the Detroit Red Wings on November 16 at Joe Louis Arena. But they were a different team on home ice. Minnesota ended Dominik Hasek's shutout streak at 162 minutes, 40 seconds and came away with a well-earned 3-3 tie. The Red Wings, who routed Minnesota, 8-3, in the earlier meeting, had to kill a hooking penalty to Brendan Shanahan in overtime. Detroit was fortunate not to take a second penalty in the extra period as defenseman Chris Chelios got away with tackling Wes Walz. Both teams had several excellent scoring chances in the extra period, which featured continuous end-to-end action. "The way we played them the first time, it was embarrassing for all of us," Minnesota goaltender Manny Fernandez said. "We got to prove ourselves today." The Wild took a 3-2 lead on defenseman Willie Mitchell's goal 48 seconds into the third period and Fernandez made it hold up for most of the period. But a bad break led to Luc Robitaille's equalizer with 6:26 to go. Mitchell tried to punch the puck away with his gloves, but it bounced right to Robitaille in the right faceoff circle. He ripped a one-timer inside the right goalpost for his 606th career goal. "We tied it up with a big goal in the third, but I felt for two periods, we were just going through the motions," Shanahan said. "I'd like to see us build instead of sit on those leads." Steve Yzerman scored Detroit's first two goals on the power play and his second tally gave the Red Wings a 2-1 lead 7:29 into the second period. But he left later in the second after getting struck on the left ankle by a shot and did not return. While Yzerman was on crutches following the game, X-rays showed the ankle was not broken. He is not expected to play Thursday against Columbus. "We were still in control of the game (after Yzerman left)," Chelios said. "We just made a few mistakes that cost us." With 3:01 left in the second period, Richard Park took a pass from Walz and finished off a 2-on-1 by beating Hasek with a quick wrist shot. The Wild took their only lead in the opening minute of the third period when Mitchell snapped a low wrister inside the right post. "I was afraid when we started to get penalties because playing against a team like this, we can pay a price," Minnesota coach Jacques Lemaire said. "But we kept coming back and coming back." Once Minnesota got the lead, the Wild frustrated the Red Wings with their trapping style. Fernandez made 21 saves. "We didn't generate too much offense tonight," Chelios admitted. "They don't give up a lot of opportunities. They are tough to play in their building." Things opened up in overtime, however. After the Red Wings killed the penalty, Hasek made a pad save on Pascual Dupuis, who was alone in the right circle. With 1:19 left, Sergei Zoltak passed in front to Antti Laaksonen, but Hasek -- who stopped 21 shots -- kept the game tied with a sliding pad save. "It seems like you'll be 2-on-1 on one side, then 2-on-1 on the other," Fernandez said of the 4-on-4 overtime format. "You've got to think of it like it's practice. You go out there and have fun for five minutes." The Red Wing nearly won it on the counterattack, but Fernandez got his left pad on Brett Hull's blast from point-blank range. "They nearly scored on us because the two forwards got caught," Lemaire said. Yzerman opened the scoring with 7:48 left in the first period, but defenseman Jason Marshall's unassisted goal four minutes into the second got Minnesota even. It was the first goal allowed by Hasek since early in the third period against Vancouver on December 19. The reigning NHL Player of the Week, Hasek was trying to register three straight shutouts for the first time in his career. He was 3-0-0 with a 0.33 goals-against average in his previous three starts. |
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