Thomas Vanek and the Detroit Red Wings have been perfect in shootouts this season.
Vanek and Frans Nielsen scored in a shootout, lifting the Detroit Red Wings to a comeback 6-5 win over the Boston Bruins on Wednesday night.
In 1-on-1 duels after regulation and overtime, Vanek has scored on all four of his shots and Detroit is an NHL best 6-0.
The Red Wings rallied from a pair of three-goal deficits in the first period, and with 3:04 remaining in regulation, Gustav Nyquist scored to pull them into a tie.
Detroit has three straight victories, against three of the top teams in the Eastern Conference, for its longest winning streak since winning six in a row in October.
The Red Wings have pulled within four points of the third and final guaranteed playoff spot in the Atlantic Division, bolstering their hopes of being in a 26th consecutive postseason.
Boston is in second place in the Atlantic Division, putting it in a position to make the playoffs for the first time since 2014. The Bruins, though, will have to play much better than they have the last two games.
In the shootout, Tuukka Rask and Petr Mrazek stopped the first shots they faced before Vanek scored for the Red Wings and Brad Marchand countered with a goal for the Bruins. Nielsen, who like Vanek joined the team last summer as a free agent, scored on the team’s third attempt and Vatrano missed the net with a chance to extend the 1-on-1 duels.
Rask made 20 saves for the Bruins, who were coming off a 4-0 loss at home to the New York Islanders in which their top goaltender was benched after giving up three goals in 40 minutes.
The Bruins were dominant early before blowing a chance to keep Detroit at a distance in the Atlantic Division standings.
“We collapsed,” Boston coach Claude Julien said. “That was pretty obvious. It was just one of those games. We didn’t get the save when we needed it. We made some mistakes that gave them chances. A lot of things went wrong tonight after we took that lead.
Detroit’s Jared Coreau was pulled 5:13 into the game after giving up three goals on eight shots.
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