"Various factors were in play for the Coyotes against the Red Wings.

Could they, specifically goaltender Mike Smith, bounce back from a lopsided loss the night before? Would they find a way to slow the potent Red Wings offense? Could they continue to be successful on home ice, where they had scored 11 goals in their two previous games?

And against a highly skilled cast in red and white, would someone from the blue-collar Coyotes step up in crunch time?

The Coyotes were able to answer yes to most of those questions, and they salvaged a point in a 3-2 shootout loss in front of 15,067 at Jobing.com Arena on Thursday night.

Todd Bertuzzi made a spin move to get the puck past Smith in the third round, the only goal in the shootout.

Smith played superbly, making 33 saves. And role players gave the Coyotes the boost they needed.

"We competed hard," Smith said. "It was one of probably our better efforts as far as compete level from everyone in this locker room for the whole year, I think for having a back to back game with travel, against one of the best teams in the league, we came right from the drop of the puck and were resilient from the drop of the puck on. I think we've got to be happy with that.

"Obviously, we need to win some of these games and find ways to get that extra point, but it was a great effort by our team.""