Celebrating his 1,000th career National Hockey League game, David Perron stood out in a losing cause, hitting goal in the Detroit Red Wings’ 3-2 loss to the Stars in Dallas.
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The Sherbrooke native, Perron became the 51st Quebec-born player to achieve this milestone, and is only the fourth active player to do so, following Patrice Bergeron, Marc-Édouard Vlasic and Paul Stastny.
With this goal, Perron also made history in another way. He is now one of a select group of six active players to score in their 1,000th game. Brent Burns, Evgeni Malkin, Josh Bailey, Jeff Carter and Bergeron are the others.
The 34-year-old veteran’s most recent goal, scored by deflecting a Ben Chiarot shot past goalkeeper Jake Oettinger, tied the game late in the second period.
“It was a lucky jump,” the Quebecer said after the game, according to NHL.com. I was going to the net and didn’t have a clear intention, but I felt the puck bounce off my stick and into the net. It gave me some energy.”
Unfortunately for Perron, Nils Lundkvist crashed the party in overtime to give the Stars the win.
However, captain Dylan Larkin underlined the importance of his teammate’s equaliser.
“It was a very important goal for us, observed the central player. It was good for our team and good for him, in his thousandth game. It was really special, so we’re very happy for him.”
Larkin was the Wings’ other goalscorer, while Denis Gurianov and Jamie Benn filled in for the home team.
Two days after a 5-1 loss to the Florida Panthers, the Red Wings looked much better in the loss, according to head coach Derek Lalonde.
“It was a good effort from start to finish,” he said. We are right. However, it leaves a bad taste in the mouth, because we could have ended the evening with two points.
