The Detroit Red Wings won for the second time in three days, defeating the New York Rangers 5-3 on Sunday.
Brian Rafalski had a goal and three assists and Tomas Holmstrom had a goal and an assist as Detroit completed its third game in three days. The Red Wings played a home-and-home series with the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday and Saturday.
Former Red Wing Sean Avery scored a goal for New York. Artem Anisimov and Erik Christensen also tallied goals for the Rangers. Martin Biron played two periods and stopped 19 shots, and backup Chad Johnson played the third and stopped 10.
Most of the regulars played for both teams. Henrik Zetterberg, Dan Cleary and Patrick Eaves also tallied goals for the Red Wings, who improved to 2-2 in exhibition play. Jimmy Howard made 18 saves and played the whole game.
Detroit had two goals waved off in the second period that could have blown the game open. Darren Helm appeared to knock in a shot that trickled through Biron, but the referee blew the whistle before Helm could deposit the loose puck.
Later in the frame, Rafalski appeared to beat Biron through a screen by Holmstrom, but Holmstrom was ruled to have interfered with Biron. Replays clearly showed Holmstrom to be at least two feet away from Biron when the goal occurred.
Detroit took a 3-1 lead midway through the second on a goal by Rafalski, but Anisimov and Christensen scored 27 seconds apart to tie the game. Anisimov fired a shot past a screened Howard after taking advantage of a broken stick by Dan Cleary. Christensen beat Howard with a short-handed goal during a two-on-one breakaway just seconds later to knot the score .
Holmstrom shoveled a rebound past Biron less than five minutes into the third to give the Wings the lead back. Eaves registered a late tally to seal the game.