Henrik Zetterberg scored his first career hat trick Saturday night, leading the Detroit Red Wings to a 4-1 win over the Phoenix Coyotes.
Zetterberg also had an assist on Detroit’s fourth goal, an empty-netter by Jason Williams with 11 seconds remaining in the game.
Dominik Hasek, making his first appearance after missing four games with an inflamed wrist, stopped 20 of 21 shots against to pick up the win.
All of Zetterberg’s goals came on the power play, with the first coming 30 seconds past the game’s midway point, he slipped a wrist shot past goalie Mikael Tellqvist with Tomas Holmstrom screening in front.
The second goal came with 1:59 remaining in the second and only after a lengthy review.
Defenseman Derek Morris appeared to clear the puck out of the crease after a Zetterberg scoring chance went over Tellqvist. Over a minute later, when play was finally halted, the officials called for a review, showing that the puck had crossed the goal line before Morris’ clear.
Mike Zigomanis got Phoenix on the board just 25 seconds into the third but the Red Wings were able to hold on, with Zetterberg putting them back up by two with 4:24 remaining off of a smart pass by Pavel Datsyuk.
Tellqvist stopped 23 of the 26 shots he faced.
Detroit went 3-for-6 on the power play and held Phoenix off the board in their five chances with the extra attacker.
Combined with the Nashville Predators’ loss to the Minnesota Wild, the Red Wings’ win moves them into the top spot in the Western Conference standings.
The Red Wings next chance to stretch their lead over the Predators will be on Wednesday when they host the Chicago Blackhawks.
