DETROIT — The spotlight kept hovering over the Red Wings net.
That's where the Wild was the beneficiary of an own goal, had a goal wiped away due to goaltender interference and where a melee broke out at the end of the second period — a bloody brawl that included both goalies.
Just outside the crease was also where the Wild polished off a tension fueled 6-5 shootout win on Thursday at Little Caesar Arena that gave the team back-to-back victories for the first time in almost a month.
Kevin Fiala and Mats Zuccarello scored the only goals in the shootout, this after Detroit's Jordan Oesterle tied the game at 5 with 2:51 remaining in the third period.
Before that, Kirill Kaprizov had the go-ahead goal, jamming in a rebound at 12:13.
Fresh off a well-deserved — and much-needed — 5-2 win at home against the Rangers on Tuesday, the Wild looked like it was picking up where it left off when the team scored on its first shot of the game.
Fiala slid the puck to Matt Boldy for a one-timer 1:37 into the first period that extended Fiala's point streak to five games, a run in which he's accumulated eight points.
But the Red Wings were resilient, answering back at 6:14 when Jakub Vrbana peeled off from the boards with the puck and wired it by Wild goalie Cam Talbot, who ended up making 29 saves.
At 12:07, the Wild reclaimed the lead on a bizarre own goal by Detroit goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic, who whacked a deflected puck by Joel Eriksson Ek into the net. The goal counted as Eriksson Ek's second in as many games and at 30 points, he matched his career high set in 56 games last season. Eriksson Ek is also one goal shy of equaling his career high of 19, also set last season.
Nedeljkovic, however, would make up for that mistake en route to his 35-save showing.
He earned an assist on the Red Wings' next goal, a shot by Lucas Raymond 14:09 into the first. And then on the power play with 1:29 to go in the period, Detroit moved ahead of the Wild on Vrana's second goal of the game — a one-timer from along the goal line.
That advantage doubled in the second when Raymond recorded his second tally of the night, directing in a pass from Nick Leddy after getting left alone in front of Talbot at 5:52.
The deficit, however, didn't faze the Wild, which has had a knack all season from climbing out of holes.
This latest come-from-behind success story began on the power play, with Mats Zuccarello capitalizing from inside the right side at 9:31. Then, barely 3 minutes later, captain Jared Spurgeon delivered for the equalizer through traffic in front of the net where Eriksson Ek was jostling with the Red Wings' Pius Suter, who ended up bumping into Nedeljkovic as the puck sailed into the net.
Detroit challenged for goaltender interference and after a video review, the goal was reversed with the NHL determining Eriksson Ek caused Suter to make contact with Nedeljkovic prior to the puck entering the net.
Play was also in front of Nedeljkovic when the second period ended, with both sides tangled up in the crease and Nedeljkovic punching Jordan Greenway after the horn sounded. Individual fights broke out, and Talbot skated the length of the rink to join the fracas.
He and Nedeljkovic were kept apart, but a tussle between Matt Dumba and Raymond resulted in a pool of blood from Raymond on the ice and the period ended with sticks and gloves strewn around the Detroit net.
In the end, Dumba and Greenway were penalized for roughing and Talbot received a minor penalty for leaving his crease. On the Red Wings' side, Nedeljkovic and Raymond were dinged for roughing.
That led to a Detroit power play to begin the third but not only did the Wild survive the chance, the team tallied the tying goal soon after when Boldy's shot trickled through Nedeljkovic at 3:04.
Boldy is up to 11 goals, and this was his second career multi-goal game. The other was a hat trick vs. the Red Wings on Feb. 14. Frederick Gaudreau set up the finish, his second assist of the game.
Overall, Detroit went 1 for 4 on the power play and the Wild was 1 for 1.
