Down 3-0, Wings Storm Back

Not even a poor performance by Chris Osgood and a three-goal deficit in the first-period were able to stop the Detroit Red Wings.

Detroit used the heroics of backup goalie Manny Legace, a potent power play and a four-point game from Brendan Shanahan to defeat the Phoenix Coyotes 6-3 on Sunday. It gave the Red Wings an 11-game unbeaten streak (9-0-2) and ran their home unbeaten streak to 12 (11-0-1)

Shanahan, who had two goals and two assists, broke a 3-3 tie with a power-play goal at 8:23 of the third period and Boyd Devereaux and Martin Lapointe added insurance goals as the Red Wings moved past St. Louis for first place in the Central Division and second in the Western Conference.

"It's always a confidence builder when you can come back, especially 3-0 against a good hockey team," Shanahan said.

Detroit scored a season-high four power-play goals, and Legace stopped all 18 shots he faced in relief of Osgood.

"A real key part of the game was when they put in Legace at the start of the second period," Phoenix coach Bobby Francis said. "We had good chances to get that fourth goal but he made some big saves, some key saves."

"Nervous? Nervous isn't the word. The legs were shaking," Legace said. "You didn't know how you were going to respond after a month off. I didn't want to let the guys down. It was good that I was able to get a couple of saves early."

Ater being held without a shot for the first half of the second period, the Red Wings rallied to tie it on three goals in six shots covering 3:31.

Mathieu Dandenault made it 3-1 at 10:55 on Detroit's first shot of the period. His back-hander from the bottom of the right circle beat goalie Sean Burke high to the short side.

Just 12 seconds after the Coyotes' Teppo Numminen went off for holding Pat Verbeek's stick, Shanahan ripped a high slap shot from the right circle that beat Burke at 11:58.

It was Shanahan's 20th goal of the season.

With Keith Tkachuk off for hooking, Tomas Holmstrom put in Shanahan's rebound to tie at 14:26.

"I think the reason why we lost, obviously, is the penalties we've been taking," Tkachuk said. "You can't give a team like Detroit that many power-play chances."

Phoenix led 3-0 after the first period despite being outshot 21-10.

Claude Lemieux opened the scoring just 1:23 in when his harmless looking shot from 10 feet inside the blue line slipped through Osgood's pads.

With Detroit's Chris Chelios off for tripping Jeremy Roenick, Tkachuk put a cross-crease pass into the open side of the net for his 27th goal of the season at 5:49.

Juha Ylonen made it 3-0 at 14:34 when his wrist shot from the inside edge of the right circle slid between Osgood's right arm and body.

"We were playing like we were sleepwalking out there in the first period," said Detroit defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom, who had three assists for the second straight game.

Osgood was pulled in favor of Legace to start the second period.

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