"...the Wild committed highway robbery, winning its second straight overtime game and sixth game in eight when John Madden scored with 42 seconds left in OT.
Yes, the Wild played a solid first period, and yes it built a 2-0 lead, but then turnovers and penalties and turnovers, and suddenly the Wild is once again pinned in its own zone for an eternity.
The Wild was great on the penalty kill in the second, and Jose Theodore was tremendous (what a 1-2 goaltending punch the Wild employs), but they couldn't escape when Darren Helm scored in the final minute of the second. That cut the Detroit deficit to 2-1 in a period they outshot the Wild 18-3.
Uh-oh. And yes, Detroit had a 3-2 lead by 4:55 into the third. But they didn't break, and Mikko Koivu, who for the second game in a row didn't bury a shorthanded chance earlier in the game only to find it in the back of his net seconds later, scored the tying goal with 1:23 left. It came after Nick Schultz, who was terrific playing mentor for young Marco Scandella all night, turned into an offensive defenseman, drove down the right wing and backhanded basically a perfect pass from the wall because Jimmy Howard served the rebound right to Koivu in the slot.
In overtime, Marek Zidlicky held onto the puck forever down low, stopping and starting and stopping and starting, and finally he threw the puck at the crease. Martin Havlat's deflected shot jumped right to Madden's stick for his second career OT winner."
José's quote from the nhl.com game recap: "It's a tough place to play and a tough place to win," Theodore said. "Our guys showed character by just coming back."
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