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  Wednesday, Jan. 19 10:00pm ET
Shanahan powers comeback with pair
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -- Brendan Shanahan and the veteran Detroit Red Wings weren't discouraged by an early three-goal deficit.

Led by Shanahan's two power-play goals, the Red Wings rallied from a rough first period Wednesday night, earning a 3-3 tie with the Vancouver Canucks.

"We just talked about continuing with the game plan and not getting too desperate," Shanahan said. "We had to press a little bit, but we didn't want to open things up too much. There was still a lot of hockey left."

The Red Wings remained poised, despite the fact they've been going through their worst stretch of the season.

"With the way things have been going lately, it would've been easy to unravel," Shanahan said. "We said we did a lot of good things. We thought we were playing pretty well, but the score didn't reflect it."

Shanahan, who ended a five-game goal drought, has 26 on the season.

After Shanahan scored two power-play goals to cut the Canucks' lead to 3-2 by the 13:11 mark of the second period, Martin Lapointe scored the equalizer on a partial breakaway with 1:08 left.

Pat Verbeek and Chris Chelios had two assists for the Red Wings, 8-0-3 in their last 11 meetings against Vancouver.

Verbeek has 501 career assists.

Detroit, winless in five games (0-3-2), took over first place in the Western Conference, one point ahead of St. Louis.

Peter Schaefer, Vadim Sharifijanov and Greg Hawgood scored first-period power-play goals for the Canucks, 2-7-2 in their last 11 games, and 0-5-1 in last six home games.

Todd Bertuzzi, who had two assists, said the Canucks can't get discouraged.

"A point's a point," he said. "The last time I checked, we were chasing quite a few teams that have been getting points."

The Canucks have been involved in four overtime games -- losing two and tying two -- in their last five outings.

"For us, it was another good battle. We just worked our tails off just like three or four other games we've played lately," Bertuzzi said.

The Canucks only had 10 shots after the first period.

Vancouver did have an opportunity to win before overtime. With goalie Chris Osgood out of position, Hawgood chipped the puck over the net with 53 seconds left.

The three power-play goals marked the 12th time in franchise history that Vancouver has scored three power-play goals in one period -- the last time Jan. 4, 1997, against Toronto.

It also matched a Red Wings mark, accomplished many times, for most power-play goals given up in one period.

Detroit, one of the league's better penalty-killing teams, has surrendered six power-play goals in their last three games.

The Red Wings considered the draw a positive sign.

"I'll tell you what, it feels good for us," defenseman Steve Duchesne said. "It feels good in our minds to get back like this and tie it. We'll take it."

Osgood, winless in his last five starts (0-4-1), has gone 1-6-1 -- and given up 28 goals -- since returning after missing 15 games with a fracture in his blocker hand.

Felix Potvin, who faced 24 shots, is 1-5-2 since the Canucks acquired him last month from the New York Islanders.

The Red Wings were without Sergei Fedorov, who missed his second straight game with a sore neck.
 


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