ANAHEIM, Calif. — Mikko Koivu scored his first NHL goal, Stephane Veilleux recorded his first of the season and Randy Robitaille netted the winner in a shootout, leading the Minnesota Wild to a 4-3 victory over the Anaheim Mighty Ducks on Sunday night.
The shootout started well for the Ducks when Teemu Selanne beat Manny Fernandez to the glove side and stuffed his stick in an imaginary holster. But Koivu and Robitaille connected for Minnesota, and Fernandez denied Andy McDonald and rookie Ryan Getzlaf.
Getzlaf scored consecutive goals in the second period to erase a two-goal Minnesota lead, and Zenon Konopka recorded his first NHL goal. Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who shut out Minnesota three times in the 2003 Western Conference finals, made 18 saves. Six of Anaheim's nine losses have been decided by one goal.
Anaheim was trailing 3-1 when Getzlaf got the puck from Selanne in the high slot after a turnover and beat Fernandez with a slap shot at 8:01 of the second. About 6 1/2 minutes later, Minnesota was penalized for having too many men on the ice. The Ducks capitalized on the ensuing power play as Getzlaf put a short backhander past Fernandez's stick to tie it.
Minnesota, the NHL's top penalty killing-team, opened the scoring with their second short-handed goal. Brian Rolston took a two-line pass from Pascal Dupuis and went in on a breakaway, beating Giguere with a backhander.
CAPITALS 5, MAPLE LEAFS 4: At Washington, Alexander Ovechkin scored two goals to lead the Washington Capitals to a 5-4 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday. Ovechkin, the top pick in the 2004 draft, leads NHL rookies with 10 goals. He has 15 points in 14 games this season. Bryan Muir had a goal and an assist, Matt Pettinger had a short-handed goal, and Brian Willsie scored his first goal in 11 games for the Capitals (6-8), who won their second straight game. Jeff O'Neill scored twice and Kyle Wellwood had a goal and an assist for Toronto (7-6-2), which lost its third straight road game.
RED WINGS 4, BLUES 1: At St. Louis, Tomas Holmstrom scored two goals and added an assist, and Detroit stayed perfect on the road. Detroit is the only NHL team without a road loss this season (7-0). The Red Wings have outscored opponents 31-10 on enemy ice.
The Blues are going in the opposite direction, having lost a club-record eight straight — including overtime defeats. St. Louis had lost seven consecutive twice, the last from Feb. 12-25, 1989. Since 2002-03, Detroit is 12-1-1 against St. Louis and has held the Blues under two goals 10 times.
Brendan Shanahan and Henrik Zetterberg also scored for Detroit, and former Blues goalie Chris Osgood made 26 saves. Mike Sillinger scored St. Louis' only goal.
Patrick Lalime allowed three goals on the first 15 shots he faced.
BLACKHAWKS 2, COYOTES 1 (OT): At Chicago, rookie Brent Seabrook's goal with 38.3 seconds left in overtime lifted Chicago. After killing a power play earlier in the extra period, the Blackhawks converted a 3-on-1 rush, with Mark Bell finding Seabrook in front for the winner. The puck hit Coyotes goalie David LeNeveu and trickled across the line for Seabrook's second goal of the season. Nikolai Khabibulin stopped 28 shots for the Blackhawks, who had lost five of six.