Detroit Red Wings 1, Edmonton Oilers 1 FINAL OT

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) _ Marc Lamothe had to wait almost five years for another chance to be the starting goaltender in an NHL game.

Lamothe stopped 29 shots to help the Detroit Red Wings tie the Edmonton Oilers 1-1 Monday night.

``It was great,'' Lamothe said. ``It was really special that it was here in Edmonton.''

Lamothe has played almost 10 years in the minors waiting for his shot, including 45 games with the Oilers' AHL team in Hamilton in 2001-02 before the Red Wings signed him as a free agent. He made one start and appeared in another game during a brief period with the Chicago Blackhawks in 1999.

Niklas Lidstrom converted a pass from Steve Yzerman for Detroit's third-period goal. Lamothe gave up a goal to Edmonton's Jason Chimera, a former teammate, in the first period.

``It felt like it was back to pee wee since I'd scored,'' said Chimera, who scored for the first time since Dec. 13.

Lamothe had a 1.88 goals-against average and .928 save percentage in 36 games for the Grand Rapids Griffins, Detroit's AHL affiliate. He was called up on Feb. 11.

``He was good, he was very good, particularly early,'' said Red Wings coach Dave Lewis. `We didn't break in the first period and it's a good point for us.''

The teams each fired four shots in overtime. The Western Conference-leading Red Wings moved into a tie with idle Ottawa for the top spot in the overall NHL standings.

Tommy Salo stopped 25 shots for Edmonton, none better than against Brendan Shanahan with a flash of the glove on a backhander in the second period. Shanahan also had a second-period goal called back when a goaltender interference penalty was assessed to Tomas Holmstrom.

``It is a pretty good building block for our team to come in in a big-game situation and hold Detroit to one goal,'' said Oilers coach Craig MacTavish.

The Oilers had recently beaten Colorado on the road and defeated Vancouver in overtime on Saturday. Edmonton needs to win the majority of its remaining 20 games to have any hope of making the playoffs. The club currently sits 10th in the Western Conference.

``It's going to come, we all believe it,'' said MacTavish. ``But it's got to come in a hurry.''