Ex-King Schneider Has Hand in Red Wing Victory

Detroit’s 13th win in 15 games came with some controversy.

Tomas Holmstrom had a goal and two assists, former King Mathieu Schneider had an assist in his first game, and Igor Larionov scored a goal that officials reviewed before ruling it good as the Red Wings beat the Phoenix Coyotes, 3-2, Wednesday night at Phoenix.

With 6:04 left in the opening period Larionov stuck out his stick and deflected a teammate’s shot past Phoenix goalie Sean Burke for his eighth goal of the season. Officials reviewed the goal before ruling that Larionov did not have his stick too high on the deflection.

Referee Stephen Walkom issued a statement after the game saying, “I viewed it in a split second, and I saw the stick come down on the puck and I believe it was right at the crossbar, and I called it a goal.”

The video official said it was inconclusive, allowing the score, which gave Detroit a 2-0 lead.

Schneider had an assist on Larionov’s goal and had a team-high four shots in 23 minutes.

“It was a lot fun,” Schneider said. “It was totally different, trying to hang on to the puck and make plays all the time. I just really enjoyed it. It was a nice change of pace from my last 14 seasons of coaches telling us to dump it and chase it and go get it back. It’s a nice way to play hockey.”

Schneider was traded by the Kings hours before the Tuesday deadline for center Sean Avery, defenseman Maxim Kuznetsov and two draft picks.

“I thought he looked good,” Detroit Coach Dave Lewis said of Schneider. “He was what we thought he would be. He got an assist on the big goal point shot. I thought he was good. But he’s learning a new system too so that’s going to take some adjustment time.”

Curtis Joseph stopped 28 shots to improve to 28-17-6. Phoenix outshot Detroit, 29-22, including 24-12 in the second and third periods.

The first Detroit goal, which was also reviewed, came when Jason Woolley passed the puck from the point to Luc Robitaille standing in front of goalie Sean Burke. Robitaille fell before he could get a shot off, but Woolley raced in and punched it in 5:16 into the first.

Carolina 3, Buffalo 2 -- Craig Adams scored on a wrist shot just inside the blue line with 1:19 left in overtime to lead the Hurricanes at Buffalo, N.Y.

Radim Vrbata scored the tying goal with 9.6 seconds left in regulation in his first game with Carolina after being acquired from Colorado on Tuesday.

Montreal 4, Florida 0 -- Jason Ward had a goal and an assist in his first game of the season and Jose Theodore made 32 saves to hand the Panthers their second consecutive shutout loss at home in Sunrise, Fla.

Florida has a franchise-record 10-game home winless streak.

Minnesota 4, Dallas 2 -- Manny Fernandez had 31 saves at St. Paul, Minn., and the Wild scored four first-period goals.

Dallas goalie Ron Tugnutt, who had recorded consecutive shutouts, was replaced after one period after stopping only six of 10 shots.

Nashville 2, Pittsburgh 2 -- Forwards Guillaume Lefebvre and Brian Holzinger, two of seven players acquired in Penguin deals before Tuesday’s trade deadline, scored third-period goals at Pittsburgh to help them end a nine-game losing streak.