DETROIT – The Minnesota Wild’s hard work eventually paid off for a key victory.
Matt Moulson’s goal at 2:15 of overtime gave the Wild a 4-3 come-from-behind win over the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday night.
The Wild trailed 2-0 after the first period despite outplaying the Red Wings and outshooting them 12-6.
“I was really impressed at the way they were able to stick with it,” Minnesota coach Mike Yeo said. “Obviously, there’s a tendency to get frustrated and go away from our game. But they stuck with it.
Moulson tipped in a pass from defenseman Jonas Brodin — who was along the right wing boards — for Moulson’s 21st goal and the game winner.
“He (Brodin) showed great patience. He kind of looked over and made eye contact with me,” Moulson said. “I went to the net. He couldn’t have put it in a better place.”
The Wild lost to the Red Wings 3-2 on Saturday afternoon in St. Paul.
Both teams are in the seventh playoff spot in tight races their respective conferences.
Charlie Coyle had a goal and an assist and Jason Pominville and Zach Parise also scored for Minnesota. Mikko Koivu had two assists and Ilya Bryzgalov stopped 13 shots.
“It was frustrating being down 2-0 and how good we were playing,” Parise said. “But we thought we were doing some really good things.”
Gustav Nyquist scored twice to extend his goal-scoring streak to five games, and Tomas Tatar also scored for Detroit. Jimmy Howard made 21 saves.
“I don’t think we were skating toward the middle and putting pressure on their D,” Nyquist said. “They could break out pretty fast I thought. So that was an issue, which is why we didn’t get enough zone time in their zone. We weren’t skating good enough, I thought.”
Tatar tied it 3-3 with 8:17 remaining in the third with a shot from the right circle off the rush. It was his 16th goal.
Coyle’s goal 4:33 into the third period tied the game at 2. He pushed the puck into an empty net off a goal-mouth scramble. It was Coyle’s ninth goal of the season and second in two games. Parise gave the Wild the lead just 1:45 later when he poked one past Howard for his 24th goal.
Pominville’s power-play goal with 8:03 left in the second period put Minnesota on the scoreboard and made it 2-1. His 27th goal of the season came on a one-time slap shot from the high slot area.
The goal was scored only 10 seconds after Red Wings defenseman Kyle Quincey went off for interference.
Detroit’s Daniel Alfredsson hit the post with 8:30 left in the second period.
Nyquist scored twice in the first period to give Detroit its 2-0 lead.
His first goal came on the power play with 6:15 left in the opening period. He put in a rebound from the left circle. His second, and 23rd of the season, was the result of a breakaway. He made a move and slid a backhand shot past Bryzgalov.
It was Nyquist’s seventh goal in five games. He has a NHL-leading 18 goal since Jan. 20.
NOTE: Detroit C Joakim Andersson returned after missing six games with a broken foot. … Wild G Niklas Nackstrom missed his 10th game due to an undisclosed injury. … Detroit veteran RW Todd Bertuzzi didn’t play because of the flu. … Minnesota D Keith Ballard missed his fourth game with a lower-body injury. … The Red Wings sent RW Teemu Pulkkinen to their AHL affiliate in Grand Rapids.
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