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Bouchard scores in overtime as Wild top Red Wings

Dec 24, 2006 - 7:12 AM ST. PAUL, Minnesota (Ticker) -- Pierre-Marc Bouchard refused to let his team take its chances in a shootout.

Bouchard scored at 45 seconds of overtime and Mark Parrish netted his 10th goal of the season as the Minnesota Wild rallied for a 3-2 triumph over the Detroit Red Wings.

After suffering a 3-1 loss to Detroit on Friday, Minnesota won for just the second time in six games and raised its home record to 14-3-1. The teams meet again Wednesday in Detroit.

"We had some tough games and played really well, especially on the road," Wild coach Jacques Lemaire said. "Playing a team like this, we know they have a lot of skills. Coming out and winning this game, especially when you saw them come back and take the lead (means a lot)."

"We didn't have a lot of energy, but I thought it got better as the game went on," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. "We had our opportunities, for sure. They had their opportunities. I thought both goalies were good."

Bouchard netted his first goal in 12 games and sixth of the season by taking Wes Walz's feed on a breakaway and lifting a backhander inside the right goalpost past netminder Chris Osgood.

"That was a great defensive play by (Walz) to get that puck," Bouchard said. "I saw I had time and taking the angle gave me a little more of an option. I went with my backhand and it worked."

The game was tied, 1-1, before Kris Draper netted his fifth tally for Detroit by lifting the puck over sprawling goaltender Manny Fernandez with 3:43 left in regulation.

Just 16 seconds later, the Wild tied the score when Parrish redirected Keith Carney's blast from the left point past Osgood, which eventually forced overtime.

"We knew if we stuck with it, even with only a few minutes left, we'd have a chance to tie the game and win the game," Parrish said. "That's what we did."

"That's the worst," Draper said. "You have the lead and they come right back next shift. That hurts really bad. ... We had lots of chances. We had very many chances. We should've had the lead, but we were able to make it 1-1, then 2-1 right away."

Both teams failed to score until Mikko Koivu netted a shorthanded goal at 3:25 of the third period. He finished a 2-on-1 break by firing Pascal Dupuis's setup feed inside the left goalpost for his ninth tally of the season.

Tomas Holstrom tied the score midway through the period when he redirected Henrik Zetterberg's shot from the left corner over Fernandez's right pad for his fifth goal.

"I think we played quite a good road game," Zetterberg said. "We played strong defensively and Osgood played good. We battled strong. They scored one, we tied it up and then Draper put the second goal in and then they scored right away."

Starting for the seventh time in eight games, Fernandez made 30 saves for Minnesota and raised his record to 14-12-0.

"I think we played a solid game but we play this way a lot at (home)," Bouchard said. "That tying goal was huge for us and gave us a chance to send it to overtime. Both teams had chances throughout the game."

Osgood stopped 30 shots in just his sixth game of the season - his second since November 2 - for the Red Wings, who lost for the second time in six contests.