NHL roundup: Thursday's action on the ice

Edmonton's dormant offence woke up and gave the Oilers a four-goal cushion against the Detroit Red Wings. It turns out they needed all of it.

Patrick O'Sullivan(notes) scored the shootout winner as the Oilers blew a four-goal lead before salvaging a 6-5 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night. The Oilers, who had not managed in goal in seven straight periods heading into the game, broke out of their scoring drought just 42 seconds into the game. They built on that and had a big enough lead to survive a furious Detroit comeback late in the game.

Ales Hemsky(notes) had a pair of goals, Dustin Penner(notes) had a goal and three assists and J.F. Jacques, and Shawn Horcoff(notes) also scored as Edmonton (7-5-1) snapped a three-game losing skid.

Edmonton head coach Pat Quinn was breathing a sigh of relief after the wild game.

"We had a bunch of goals to start but unfortunately we didn't continue to play the same way we got those goals," he said. "Detroit's a pretty good team. You can't let them off the hook. We had some fear take over. They started checking and we didn't answer it.

"We got through it tonight, but it wasn't that pretty."

Horcoff had a season-best three point game on his return to the first line after only two points in his previous 12 games.

"It was nice," Horcoff said. "Penner and Hemmer having been playing at such a level, it's been outstanding. I'd been trying to stay positive."

Elsewhere in the NHL it was: Vancouver 2 Los Angeles 1 (SO); Washington 4 Atlanta 3; Tampa Bay 5 Ottawa 2; New Jersey 3 Boston 2; Nashville 2 Chicago 0; and Phoenix 2 St. Louis 0.

At Edmonton, Darren Helm(notes), Henrik Zetterberg(notes), Todd Bertuzzi(notes), Jonathan Ericsson(notes) and Patrick Eaves(notes) replied in regulation for the Red Wings (4-4-3), who have lost four of their last five games.

Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard(notes) said it was tough to know whether to be glad his team came back the way they did, or upset they didn't get the win as a result.

"It's one of those give-and-take situations," he said. "It's one of those situations where you can be somewhat happy to battle back the way we did and steal a point but we still have to be disappointed with not getting the two points."

Detroit head coach Mike Babcock opted to focus primarily on the positives.

"It was very important for our team to battle back the way we did and show that kind of grit and determination," he said. "As a coach you have to question what they were doing at the start of the game.

"Overall, we shot ourselves in the foot there. But we challenged our team to respond and they did. It was a real good point from where we began with that terrible start."

Though trailing 5-2, Detroit had the momentum at the start the third period, and it paid off. Ericsson beat Edmonton goalie Nikolai Khabibulin(notes) glove-side with a long shot six and a half minutes in to cut the Oilers' lead to 5-3.

Detroit made it a one-goal game just over a minute later when Bertuzzi scored his second of the season.

The Red Wings completed the comeback with their fourth consecutive goal as Eaves fought for the puck on a rush in front of the Edmonton net and scored his first of the season to make it 5-5.

Detroit outshot Edmonton 20-6 in the third period.

Edmonton had the best chance in overtime but Tom Gilbert(notes) sent a shot just over the Detroit net.

Canucks 2 Kings 1 (SO)

At Los Angeles, Mikael Samuelsson(notes) scored in the first period and again in the third round of the shootout, leading the Vancouver Canucks over the Kings.

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Capitals 4 Thrashers 3

At Atlanta, Alex Ovechkin(notes) scored his NHL-leading 12th and 13th goals, Semyon Varlamov(notes) stopped a penalty shot and the first-place Capitals held on at the end to hand Atlanta its fourth straight loss.

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Lightning 5 Senators 2

At Tampa, Fla., Steven Stamkos(notes) had two power-play goals and an assist, and Todd Fedoruk(notes), Ryan Malone(notes) and Alex Tanguay(notes) also scored for Tampa Bay.

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Devils 2 Bruins 1

At Boston, Dainius Zubrus(notes) scored with 1:26 left, and Yann Danis(notes) made 31 saves in his first appearance of the season to lead New Jersey to its sixth straight road win.

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Predators 2 Blackhawks 0

At Nashville, Tenn., Pekka Rinne(notes) made 22 saves for his first shutout of the season and fifth overall, and Joel Ward(notes) had a power-play goal in the Predators' win over Chicago.

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Coyotes 2 Blues 0

At St. Louis, Ilya Bryzgalov(notes) made 32 saves for his NHL-leading third shutout of the season, and Daniel Winnik(notes) and Taylor Pyatt(notes) scored for Phoenix.