Helene St. James

Detroit Free Press

Everybody loves a good horse story.

Nyquist the horse made good on the odds and won the 142nd Kentucky Derby in 2:01.31. Saturday's Derby played big for the Detroit Red Wings, because the favored horse, Nyquist, is named after forward Gustav Nyquist. Nyquist the horse is owned by die-hard Wings fan Paul Reddam.

Nyquist gives Dearborn's Doug O'Neill another shot at history

Nyquist the player is in Russia competing for Sweden in the 2016 World Championship (he scored in overtime the day before the Derby, if you believe in signs).

On Sunday, Nyquist took to Twitter to congratulate his namesake.

Nyquist the horse also was active on Twitter. Like a good competitor, he already is thinking about his next game (or race).

Wings forward Dylan Larkin, in Russia competing for the U.S. at the World Championship, had a little fun with the Derby, noting that maybe the horse should have been named after fleet-footed Wings teammate Andreas Athanasiou.

Worlds updates: Nyquist scored his second goal of the tournament as Sweden topped Denmark, 5-2, in a preliminary round game. ...Pavel Datsyuk had two assists in Russia's 6-4 victory over Kazakhstan. ... Tomas Jurco also had two assists in Slovakia's 5-1 victory over France

Best hats at the Kentucky Derby 2016

Nyquist a 'fresh horse' for Triple Crown try

Wings' Jurco scores game winner at Worlds

Contact Helene St. James: hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames.