Datsyuk Leads Red Wings over Flames

Pavel Datsyuk scored two highlight-reel goals Tuesday night, leading the Detroit Red Wings to a 5-3 win over the visiting Calgary Flames.

Datsyuk finished the game with three points, adding an assist on a Tomas Holmstrom goal to his two goals. Holmstrom and Nicklas Lidstrom contributed to a pair of goals.

Robyn Regehr put Calgary on the board first putting a quick wrister through a screen and past Detroit goalie Chris Osgood with 8:59 remaining in the first.

Datsyuk responded for the Red Wings with 4:11 remaining in the period. Datsyuk took a Holmstrom pass while cutting across the Calgary blue line, then stepped around defenseman Cory Sarich and ripped a shot into the top of the net.

The Wings took the lead just 23 seconds later when Kris Draper scored a rebound goal. The goal came just minutes before Draper would leave the game with a leg injury, suffered after fighting for the puck along the boards with Owen Nolan.

At 4:36 of the second and with Detroit on a five-on-three, Holmstrom scored to put the Red Wings up by a pair. Datsyuk got the puck in the left faceoff circle and Holmstrom moved out from his usual spot at the top of the crease into the slow. Datsyuk got him the puck and Holmstrom threw it through Calgary goalie Miikka Kiprusoff.

Rookie Curtis McElhinney replaced Kiprusoff in the Calgary net after the Holmstrom goal. Moments earlier, Kiprusoff blocked a shot with the side of his mask and complained of jaw soreness.

Dion Phaneuf pulled the Flames to back within a goal on a five-on-three with 5:57 remaining in the second, blasting a shot from the high slot past Osgood.

The teams traded goals early in the third period, with Datsyuk adding his second and Alex Tanguay closing the gap for the Flames.

Only 37 seconds into the period, Datsyuk carried the puck from the Detroit blue line and into the Calgary zone. He skated through a group of three Flames and picked the puck back up on the other side before roofing a backhander over McElhinney.

Tanguay’s goal came at 3:02 on a two-on-one with Jarome Iginla. Andreas Lilja was caught up-ice, leaving Lidstrom back to cover Iginla and Tanguay. Both Lidstrom and Osgood moved to face Iginla coming down the right wing and he passed off to Tanguay to score into the open side of the net.

Valtteri Filppula wrapped up the game’s scoring 3:10 later. A Phaneuf giveaway sprung Mikael Samuelsson down the right wing. Samuelsson gained the Calgary zone and passed up top to Jiri Hudler, who faked a shot and dropped the puck to the trailing Filppula to put past McElhinney.

With just over seven minutes left in the game, Phaneuf laid out Hudler with a high open-ice hit. Hudler remained on the ice for a few seconds but went off under his own power and later returned. Lilja fought Phaneuf in retaliation.

Osgood finished the night with 19 saves on 22 shots against. Kiprusoff stopped 12 of 15 shots while McElhinney stopped 18 of 20.

Each team scored once on the power play, both goals coming on five-on-threes. Detroit had seven power play chances and the Flames had five.

The Red Wings will be back in action on Thursday when the Tampa Bay Lightning visit Joe Louis Arena.

---

Draper drove himself to the Detroit Medical Center for an MRI on his injured leg. The results are expected to be known on Wednesday.