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Smyth's shootout tally ends Red Wings' home winning streak

Feb 24, 2007 - 7:48 AM DETROIT (Ticker) -- Early on, the Detroit Red Wings appeared on their way to matching a franchise record. In the shootout, Ryan Smyth made sure history was not repeated.

Smyth scored the lone shootout goal and scored a power-play tally in regulation as the Edmonton Oilers halted the Red Wings' 13-game home winning streak with a 4-3 triumph.

Entering one victory shy of tying the franchise mark set from January 21-March 25, 1965, the Red Wings jumped to a 2-0 lead just 7 1/2 minutes into the game. Smyth and Raffi Torres answered for Edmonton to forge a tie, but Valtteri Filppula restored the lead for Detroit with four minutes to go in the second.

Marty Reasoner knotted the contest at 3-3 just under 8 1/2 minutes into the third and, after a scoreless overtime, Smyth cashed in on the Oilers' first shootout opportunity. After Henrik Zetterberg failed to get off a shot on the Red Wings' chance, Smyth deked and made a stuff attempt on goaltender Dominik Hasek, who slid back into the net and was followed by the puck.

"I was trying to open him up and go five-hole," Smyth said. "He flops a lot and covers down low. I guess I should have went up high, but I tried to open him up and go backhand to forehand. With the fresh ice, obviously it helped slide it across."

"I can't say that he beat me," Hasek said. "I was in the right position."

Pavel Datsyuk's shot in the second round sailed wide of the left goalpost and Jason Williams' backhander on Detroit's final try was stopped by netminder Dwayne Roloson, sealing Edmonton's second win in as many nights.

"I stayed with Henrik, I tried to push back," Roloson said. "I think he lost it. The other two, I was able to get pieces of. You get that extra point, it doesn't matter how we got it."

Rookie Patrick Thoresen recorded two assists and Roloson made 27 saves for the Oilers, who improved to 2-2-2 on their season-high seven-game road trip.

"It's a huge win for us," Roloson said. "Everybody that we're chasing was getting points last night. We were able to stay in the pack with them."

Zetterberg extended his goal-scoring streak to four games with his seventh during the stretch and defensemen Nicklas Lidstrom and Mathieu Schneider had two assists apiece for Detroit, which had not lost at home since December 12 to Ottawa.

"That streak's over with," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "We don't have to worry about that. We can just go out and play."

"You come in this building and it can be a pretty intimidating building to come in coming off the heels of 13 wins," Oilers coach Craig MacTavish said. "One this for sure in the NHL - you can't predict much."

During a 5-on-3 power play, Zetterberg fired a one-timer from the right faceoff circle past Roloson at 4:33 of the first for a 1-0 lead. Tomas Holmstrom doubled the advantage 3:01 later, tipping Lidstrom's shot from the top of the left circle by Roloson for another power-play tally.

"It was a tough start to overcome," MacTavish said. "Just a different game than what we've been playing, it seemed like. ... But we stayed pretty composed, as composed as we could under the circumstances, and kept pecking away all night."

Smyth halved the deficit with five minutes to go in the session, burying his own rebound from the doorstep during a man advantage for his third goal in four games.

Hasek made a blocker save on Smyth's breakaway chance with 63 seconds left in the first, but Torres scored from in front at 12:15 of the second to knot the game at 2-2. However, Detroit regained the lead with 4:01 remaining in the period as Filppula punched in the puck after Jiri Hudler's pass from behind the net caromed off a defenseman to the left side of the net.

Reasoner drew Edmonton even at 8:24 of the third. Marc-Antoine Pouliot grabbed the puck in the slot and attempted to stuff it in near the left goalpost. Instead, the puck slid across the crease to the right side, where Reasoner knocked it into the net for his sixth of the season.

"It was sitting out in the crease there," Reasoner said. "I just had to bang it in."

"It was a little bit my mistake, it was a little bit nobody came to help," Hasek said. "That's the way the game was played tonight. Too many mistakes."