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BOX SCORE
DETROIT (AP) -- Sergei Fedorov was just trying to survive. He
wound up doing that, and more.
|  | | Detroit's Sergei Fedorov, left, battles Nashville's David Legwand for the puck. |
Fedorov, returning to the ice for the first time in six games,
scored Detroit's first goal as the Red Wings rallied for a 6-3 win
over the Nashville Predators on Wednesday night.
"It was nice to see him score, right off the bat," Detroit
coach Scotty Bowman said. "It might have been good for his
confidence, but I don't think confidence is a problem for Sergei."
Yuri Butsayev had two goals and an assist, while Steve Yzerman,
Pat Verbeek and Stacy Roest also scored for the Red Wings, who
broke open a 3-3 game with a last-second goal in the second period
and two early third-period scores. Greg Johnson scored two goals
and Patric Kjellberg scored another for Nashville.
Fedorov had been sidelined with a concussion that he suffered
against Edmonton on Nov. 20.
"I think I did a pretty good job in the first period," Fedorov
said. "I started to tire a little in the second, and I didn't play
the last five minutes of the game. But I actually felt pretty good.
My legs had some jump. My idea was just to survive out there."
Detroit goaltender Manny Legace, making his first NHL start of
the season, turned away 25 shots for his first NHL win since Nov.
9, 1998.
"This is the first time I've ever seen Sergei play -- live,"
Legace said. "I saw him in training camp, but that's not the same.
I was surprised by how fast he is. It's kind of scary."
The Predators, riding a two-game winning streak that included a
4-1 victory over Detroit on Saturday night in Nashville, came out
strong again, grabbing a 2-0 lead on early goals by Johnson and
Kjellberg. But the Red Wings tied it at 2 on goals by Fedorov and
Butsayev late in the first period.
"I think we realize we can play with these teams," Nashville
coach Barry Trotz said. "When we're skating, we do a decent job.
It's when we get away from it that we get ourselves in trouble."
Nashville took a 2-1 lead when Johnson, who had opened the
scoring in the first, scored a power-play goal, his fifth, while Jiri Fischer was off for tripping with 8:11 left in the second period.
Yzerman's 11th goal tied it at 3 with 4:34 left in the second as
he took a feed from Verbeek and tapped it inside the right post.
Verbeek gave Detroit a 4-3 lead with 00.9 left in the second as
he misdirected Nicklas Lidstrom's shot from the left point past
Nashville goaltender Mike Dunham for his third goal.
"The late goal was a big goal," Nashville defenseman Bill
Houlder said. "But they seemed strong in the third period, too. I
thought maybe we started pressing a bit, and we really didn't have
to do that."
Poor defense aided Nashville's two first-period goals. Johnson
skated in virtually unchecked and stuffed a backhander past Legace
for his fourth goal at 1:57.
Legace handled David Legwand's shot from the right circle, but
the rebound went through the legs of defenseman Chris Chelios to
Kjellberg who snapped it home from the left circle for his sixth
goal at 5:35.
"A 2-0 lead for them wasn't what I was dreaming about when I
got called up last week," Legace said. "But, I just had to hang
in there. I kind of figured somebody on our team would score."
Dunham, who turned away 23 shots, made nice stops on Igor
Larionov and Fedorov midway through the period, but ran out of luck
later.
Fedorov got the rebound of Fischer's shot between the circles
and snapped it home for his eighth goal with 2:33 left in the
period.
"That was an exciting moment," Fedorov said. "I got the
rebound and the net was open. I was right there. It really felt
good."
Butsayev's second goal, from a scramble in front of the net,
tied it 1:03 later.
"All night long, it seemed like there was somebody in the
crease," Dunham said. "It's very frustrating. No matter what we
did, they were getting those passes and bounces."
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Nashville Clubhouse
Detroit Clubhouse
RECAPS
Ottawa 0
Buffalo 0
Detroit 6
Nashville 3
NY Rangers 2
Edmonton 1
Dallas 2
Carolina 1
Florida 6
Phoenix 1
Vancouver 2
Anaheim 2
Los Angeles 4
Atlanta 0
San Jose 4
Colorado 2
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Yuri Butsayev flies to the net.
avi: 823 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Stacy Roest scores on the rebound.
avi: 683 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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