Recap: Detroit vs. Pittsburgh
Sports Network | March 23, 2010
Detroit, MI (Sports Network) - Henrik Zetterberg scored twice and added an assist to help the Detroit Red Wings take a 3-1 decision over the Pittsburgh Penguins at Joe Louis Arena.
Valtteri Filppula had a goal and an assist, while Jimmy Howard stopped 26 shots for the Red Wings, who have won five of their last six games.
The win gives Detroit 85 points on the season, four more than Calgary for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
"I think we've been playing way better lately," said Detroit head coach Mike Babcock. "In order to play better and win you have to have a 60-minute effort and we had that here tonight."
Pascal Dupuis scored the lone goal and Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 30 shots for the Penguins, who have dropped three of their last four.
"It seems like they played harder than we did from start to finish," said Fleury. "They wanted it more than we did tonight and that showed in the final score."
Pittsburgh holds a two-point lead over New Jersey for first place in the Atlantic Division and second place in the Eastern Conference.
The last time the Penguins were in Detroit they were celebrating a 2-1 win in Game 7 of last year's Stanley Cup Finals having secured the franchise's third championship.
The Red Wings, though, owned this one getting on the board with Filppula's snap wrister from the left circle in the final minute of the first period.
Detroit took a 2-0 lead 7:38 into the second when Zetterberg got the puck at the left circle, skated to the slot and sent a backhander on net before putting in his own rebound.
The Pens got a goal back with 3:06 to play in the second courtesy of Dupuis' swipe during a scrum in front.
The Red Wings got the goal back 1:20 into the third period on Zetterberg's off-balance wrister from the slot. Howard and Detroit's defense held off the Penguins from there to grab the two points.
Detroit hosts St. Louis on Wednesday...Pittsburgh plays in Washington the same day...The teams split the season series for a second straight year...Detroit denied Pittsburgh's only power play chance and has killed off its last 25 power plays against.
