Maracle Whips Oilers

Norm Maracle didn’t have a chance to get nervous about his first NHL start. After all, he found out about it only 20 minutes before it happened.

Maracle made 28 saves and Steve Yzerman had a goal and two assists as the Detroit Red Wings twice rallied from two-goal deficits and defeated the Edmonton Oilers, 4-3, Tuesday night at Detroit.

Maracle, 23, was called up last week to replace injured backup goalie Kevin Hodson. He was pressed into duty when Chris Osgood pulled a groin muscle before the game.

“I think it’s better that way,” Maracle said of the short notice. “I wasn’t thinking about it all day.’

Maracle didn’t get much help from his teammates early on. Edmonton scored three power-play goals and took a 3-1 lead into the third period.

But Doug Brown and Yzerman scored power-play goals early in the third, then Darren McCarty got the game-winner at 8:36.

The win was the first this season for the Red Wings in a game they trailed by two goals.

“I think we had a good start in the third,” Detroit Coach Scotty Bowman said. “We seemed to pressure them and force them into penalties.”

Yzerman’s goal was his 557th, moving him ahead of Johnny Bucyk for 13th place on the NHL list.

Mike Knuble also scored for the Red Wings.

Bill Guerin, Ryan Smyth and Boris Mironov scored for Edmonton, which missed a great chance to gain ground in its fight for a Western Conference playoff berth.

Chicago 5, Buffalo 3--Alexei Zhamnov scored one goal and set up two others, and the Blackhawks held off a third-period rally by the Sabres at Buffalo, N.Y.

Zhamnov gave the Blackhawks a 3-1 lead in the third when he poked in Tony Amonte’s rebound, then he set up Greg Johnson’s game-winner with a perfect cross-ice pass 9:05 into the final period.

Ethan Moreau and Eric Daze scored the other goals for the Blackhawks, who have 13 goals in their last two games.

Vancouver 4, Florida 2--In a matchup of two teams going nowhere, Brad May’s goal with 1:29 remaining lifted the Canucks to a victory at Miami, extending the Panthers’ franchise-worst losing streak to 10.

Peter Zezel scored two goals and Donald Brashear scored an empty-net goal with 32 seconds left to ice the victory. Bryan McCabe had two assists.

Garth Snow recorded 41 saves, including several sterling ones, for his second win in three decisions.