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NEW YORK (AP) — Detroit coach Jeff Blashill liked the way his team bounced back after a tough loss against the defending champions the previous night and a difficult third period in which the Red Wings twice gave up the lead.
Danny DeKeyser scored 1:02 into overtime to give Detroit a 4-3 victory over the New York Islanders on Sunday night.
Mike Green scored twice and Henrik Zetterberg had a goal and an assist to help the Red Wings improve to 4-1-2 in their last seven games. Detroit was coming off 5-3 loss at Pittsburgh on Saturday in which the Penguins scored four times in the third period to rally.
"I was happy overall," Blashill said. "Obviously you get leads and then you give them up, you don't want to do that. They're a good team, too, and they're going to push as well. I thought our guys stayed with it even after the times we gave up those goals. We had real good bounce-back shifts, I thought. That was real important."
Peter Mrazek stopped 32 shots to improve to 3-0-2 in his past five starts.
On the winning goal, Thomas Tatar brought the puck into the offensive zone on the right side and sent a pass to DeKeyser in the middle. He fired it past Halak on the blocker side.
"I jumped up in the play, they had a guy changing and I beat him up the ice," DeKeyser said, "and Tats threw it over to me and it went in. It was a good feeling."
Anders Lee, Johnny Boychuk and Josh Bailey scored for New York, which had won a season-high three straight. Jaroslav Halak finished with 30 saves.
"It was a game we really needed the two (points) and take advantage of a team on a tough back-to-back," Islanders captain John Tavares said. "Some good things, but still room for improvement and obviously we need the results."
Detroit's Frans Nielsen had an assist while facing his former team for the first time since leaving the Islanders for a six-year, $31.5 million deal with the Red Wings last summer. The 32-year-old Danish center, selected by the Islanders in the third round of the 2002 draft, had 119 goals and 230 assists over 10 seasons in New York.
Zetterberg gave the Red Wings a 3-2 lead with 6:54 remaining, deflecting Jonathan Ericsson's point shot past Halak on the goalie's glove side for his sixth of the season. The veteran forward leads the Red Wings with 19 points.
The Islanders tied it 2:33 after Zetterberg's goal. Dennis Seidenberg's shot was stopped by Mrazek, and as the puck rolled to the right side, Bailey and Tavares both whacked at it, with Bailey getting credit for the goal.
The Islanders trailed 2-1 after two periods before Boychuk tied it 1:52 into the third. Casey Cizikas sent the puck toward the net, it rolled around the boards and DeKeyser tried to clear it. But the puck went to Boychuk, who fired it past Mrazek for his fourth of the season and second in three games.
Green nearly had a third goal less than 5 minutes later but it was overturned on a challenge by Islanders coach Jack Capuano for goalie interference by Detroit center Luke Glendening.
Green gave the Red Wings a 2-1 lead with 5:20 left in the second period, taking a pass from Thomas Vanek and beating Halak in the top right corner. It was Green's sixth of the season and his first multi-goal game since his first career hat trick against Ottawa on Oct. 17.
Green credited the win to his team's increased effort after the previous night's loss.
"We raised the bar a little bit and if we continue to do that, we'll be good," the veteran defenseman said. "We played well. It's just a matter of keeping that compete level up."
Lee got the Islanders on the scoreboard first 5:16 into the game on their first shot on goal as he took a centering pass from Cal Clutterbuck and wristed it through a couple of defenders and past Mrazek. It was Lee's sixth of the season and fifth in the last six games.
Green tied it with 7:07 remaining in the first on a one-timer off a pass from Nielsen.
About 2 minutes later, Islanders defenseman Travis Hamonic received 17 minutes of penalties for fighting Detroit's Steve Ott. After Tavares was hit in the face by a high stick from the Red Wings' Drew Miller, Ott came in and hit Tavares as he backed away and held his face. Hamonic took exception and fought Ott and received instigator, fighting and misconduct penalties.
NOTES: Nielsen's assist was his ninth of the season and it gave him 15 points, second on the team behind Zetterberg. ... The Red Wings scratched D Ryan Sproul and LW Thomas Nosek. ... The teams play twice more, both at Detroit, on Feb. 3 and Feb. 21. ... Bailey had a point for the fifth straight game and has seven points in his last seven games.
UP NEXT
Red Wings: At Winnipeg on Tuesday night in the finale of a three-game trip.
Islanders: Host the crosstown-rival Rangers on Tuesday night in the middle game of a three-game homestand.
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