ST. PAUL, Minn., Feb. 20 (UPI) -- Todd Bertuzzi scored the winning shootout goal while playing in his 1,000th game Sunday, handing the Detroit Red Wings a 2-1 decision over Minnesota.
After Pavel Datsyuk had also scored, Minnesota netminder Niklas Backstrom needed to stop Bertuzzi to extend the tiebreaker. But the veteran winger, celebrating his career milestone, skated in slowly and roofed a shot into the Wild net to end the game.
Niklas Lidstrom got the Red Wings' only regulation goal and Jimmy Howard turned aside 25-of-26 shots, including saves on Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Matt Cullen in the shootout.
Central Division-leading Detroit posted its season-high fifth straight win.
Martin Havlat got the Wild goal and Backstrom played well in a hard-luck loss, stopping 38-of-39 shots as Minnesota gained a standings point in its bid to make the Western Conference playoffs.
