PITTSBURGH — The Red Wings looked like a hockey team that had not played a game in a week early in Wednesday's game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Then, they got their legs, maybe got their timing back and conditioning? Who knows, but they became a different team gradually on their way to a 5-4 overtime victory.
Jake Walman won it in overtime, his second goal, capping an odd-man Wings' rush at 2 minutes, 31 seconds of overtime.
The Wings (15-11-7) won their second consecutive game after a six-game winless streak.
Dylan Larkin (power play) and Joe Veleno had second-period goals for the Wings, and Jonatan Berggren and David Perron (power play) scored third-period goals, tying the game 4-4.
Jason Zucker had two goals (one a power play), while Jeff Carter (power play) and Drew O'Connor had the other Penguins goals.
Berggren scored his fifth goal, at the 15-minute mark, putting a loose puck past goaltender Casey DeSmith.
Perron then tied it 4-4 with his 12th goal, burying a quality chance on the power play from the dot.
Coach Derek Lalonde replaced goaltender Ville Husso (eight saves on 12 shots) with Magnus Hellberg (19 saves ) after Pittsburgh's four-goal, first-period outburst.
Hellberg was steady in relief and gives Lalonde an interesting option for Thursday's game in Buffalo. Go back to Husso, who didn't see much work against Pittsburgh, or play Hellberg?
Larkin cut Pittsburgh's lead to 4-1 with his 13th goal, at 7:17 of the second period.
Lucas Raymond's shot off the end boards rebounded to Larkin in the slot, who flipped a shot past DeSmith to start the comeback.
The Wings sliced the lead to 4-2 on Veleno's fifth goal.
Ben Chiarot worked the puck down from the point and fed Veleno between the hashmarks. Veleno snapped a shot past DeSmith, at 14:32, giving the Wings further momentum.
Interestingly it was the Penguins who played the night before on Long Island, with no official practice and only a morning skate to work from, and lost convincingly 5-1 to the New York Islanders.
The Wings looked like that Penguins team through 20 minutes, not able to match the Penguins' intensity, which Lalonde feared could happen early on.
"You look around the league (Tuesday, coming off the holiday break), and you look at this team (Pittsburgh), and I'm watching them on the pre-scout (video) saying this is one of the best teams in the league, a true Stanley Cup contender, and you saw how they came out (Tuesday against the Islanders)," said Lalonde after Wednesday's morning skate. "It's going to be a challenge for our guys. We'll know early on where our compete is at."
It likely wasn't where Lalonde wanted it to be, as the Penguins jumped on the Wings early.
O'Connor opened the Penguins' scoring at 2:36 of the first period.
Kasperi Kapanen skated freely in the Wings' zone and found O'Connor roaring down wing, and O'Connor snapped a shot past Husso for his first goal.
Carter made it 2-0 on the power play at 10:15.
Kapanen again was the set-up man, gathering the puck in the corner and slipping out, then finding Carter in the slot for Carter's fifth goal but only his second in 16 games.
The Penguins weren't done yet in the period.
Zucker intercepted a Filip Hronek pass along the board and drove to the net, then slipped a backhander past Husso at 14:15, making it 3-0.
Zucker then capped the barrage with his second of the period and eighth of the season in the waning moments.
Zucker got his stick on a loose puck bobbling in the crease, during a fierce scramble in front of Husso, and poked the puck into the net (video had to confirm it) at 19:27, giving Pittsburgh a 4-0 lead.
Pittsburgh's legendary trio of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang were kept off the scoresheet by the Wings. But Lalonde had high praise for the Penguins' core, which has kept Pittsburgh among the NHL's elite for over a decade.
"They're right there and they don't do that without that core," Lalonde said. "Very impressive."
