Dallas @ Detroit 4-3 OT - 11/07

This time, the Dallas Stars got the win before having to go to a shootout. Rich Peverley's goal with 18.5 seconds remaining in overtime gave the Stars a 4-3 victory against the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday, capping a perfect three-game road trip. Cody Eakin's power-play goal with 1:10 remaining in regulation forced overtime, and the Stars appeared to be headed for their third consecutive shootout before Peverley took a pass from rookie Valeri Nichushkin and fired from the high slot. The shot zipped through traffic and past Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard.

"Val made a nice play to me, and there was traffic in front," Peverley said. "I don't think [Howard] saw it."

Peverley had the game-winner Tuesday when his shootout goal gave Dallas a 3-2 victory against the Boston Bruins. Dallas started the trip by defeating the Ottawa Senators 4-3 in a shootout Sunday.

"I think our group is building a lot right now," Peverley said. "They played well, they have some dominant players, but I thought we did a good job of being persistent."

Kari Lehtonen made 26 saves for Dallas, which got goals by Shawn Horcoff and Jamie Benn. Howard stopped 24 shots for the Red Wings, who got goals by Todd Bertuzzi, rookie Adam Almquist and Pavel Datsyuk. Detroit, returning from a 3-1-0 road trip, has lost four in a row at home for the first time in four years.

"The bottom line is that of the last eight points available at home, we've gotten three of them," coach Mike Babcock said. "We have to do better than that."

The win made it a successful homecoming for Dallas general manager Jim Nill, who was hired by the Stars last summer after 19 years in the Detroit organization.

"It's nice to get it for him. He was here for a long time," Peverley said. "It probably meant a lot to him."

"It's a big win for us," Nill told the Red Wings website. "Detroit's a great team and we respect them. It's just a big character win for our young guys."

Detroit held a 3-2 lead before Justin Abdelkader was called for goaltender interference with 2:44 remaining. Dallas pulled Lehtonen in the final 90 seconds of regulation to make it a 6-on-4 skating advantage, and Eakin tied the game when his shot from just inside the right circle went through traffic and caught the top far corner for his fourth of the season. Benn got the Stars even at 2-2 when he scored 4:08 into the third period with a great individual effort. He pickpocketed Darren Helm in the neutral zone, carried over the Detroit blue line, split the defense and deked Howard to the ice before sliding home a backhander for his sixth goal of the season. Datsyuk put Detroit ahead at 11:34 with a brilliant effort of his own. He took Henrik Zetterberg's pass in the high slot, deked Horcoff completely out of the play and rifled a wrist shot past Lehtonen for his seventh of the season.

But Babcock was unhappy all of his team's production came from one line. "[Pavel] and [Zetterberg] I thought today were outstanding. But if we're going to be successful, we need more than [Datsyuk and Zetterberg] generating offense."

Neither team generated much offense during a scoreless first period when Detroit outshot Dallas 7-4. The Red Wings went without a shot on goal for the final 9:19 after the Stars had gone more than 11 minutes without putting a puck on Howard. The best scoring opportunity came after a boarding penalty to Detroit's Danny Cleary at 11:17 gave Dallas the only power play of the period. Ray Whitney's feed across the slot found Tyler Seguin in the left circle for a one-timer that hit the post, caromed off Howard's hip and stayed out of the net. Bertuzzi opened the scoring at 7:44 of the second period by capitalizing on some hard work by his linemates. Datsyuk worked the puck away from defenseman Sergei Gonchar behind the Dallas net and got it to Zetterberg, whose backhand feed found Bertuzzi in the high shot. Bertuzzi one-timed a shot that hit the sticks of two Stars, Ryan Garbutt and Jordie Benn, and went past Lehtonen's glove for his fifth of the season. Almquist finished another pass from Zetterberg at 14:50 for his first NHL goal and a 2-0 lead. The rookie defenseman slid down from the right point to the slot and snapped a perfect feed by the Red Wings captain into the net.

"I walked into the slot, got it and shot it," Almquist said.

Detroit continued to dominate, but a poor play in its zone in the final 30 seconds enabled Dallas to score a late goal. Alex Chiasson worked the puck free in the right circle and fed Whitney for a shot that was stopped by Howard. But no one picked up Horcoff, who got the rebound, went backhand to forehand and pumped it past Howard with 20.1 seconds left.

"That was a huge goal," Peverley said. "That really got us going, put us in reach."