Seattle Survives Detroit's Third-Period Comeback in Shootout Thriller

Detroit erased a three-goal deficit in the final period only to lose 4-3 in a shootout, one of the more gut-punch finishes you'll see this early in the season. Alex DeBrincat's tying goal at 19:43 of the third — with 17 seconds left in regulation — made the comeback feel complete, until Seattle had other ideas.

Seattle controlled this game for two and a half periods and it wasn't particularly close. Mackie Samoskevich opened the scoring at 6:45 of the first with a wrist shot, assisted by Chandler Stephenson, and that first goal turned out to be the turning point — Seattle never trailed from that moment forward. Ryker Evans made it 2-0 unassisted at 3:22 of the second, and Brandon Montour added a snap shot at 16:01 — assisted by Berkly Catton — to push it to 3-0. Detroit was being outworked, and Philipp Grubauer, who finished with 22 saves on 25 shots, had little reason to sweat.

Then the third period happened. Viktor Arvidsson got Detroit on the board at 6:25 with a wrist shot, assisted by Emmitt Finnie and Anton Johansson. Fifty-nine seconds later, Lucas Raymond — set up by Alex DeBrincat and Dylan Larkin — made it 3-2. The comeback was on, and it looked like Seattle was going to let a comfortable lead slip away entirely. DeBrincat completed the rally at 19:43, burying a wrist shot off assists from Larkin and Raymond to tie it at three. That line — DeBrincat, Raymond, Larkin — each finished with two points, and they looked like the best unit on the ice when it mattered most. Daniil Tarasov held his end, stopping 24 of 27 shots in a losing effort.

The shootout, though, belongs to Seattle. Freddy Gaudreau, Viktor Arvidsson, and Bobby McMann all scored in the skills competition — the final shootout sequence reading 1-1, then 1-2, then 1-2 in Seattle's favor — and that was enough. The story of the night was Detroit's stunning third-period resilience, but the result is what goes in the standings, and Seattle takes the two points. It appears Detroit's inability to generate any offense through 40 minutes cost them dearly; you can't spot a team three goals and expect a shootout comeback to be enough. Seattle, for their part, looks like a team that knows how to protect a lead — right up until they almost didn't.