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Holmstrom scores twice as Red Wings edge Canucks

Oct 25, 2007 - 3:49 AM DETROIT (Ticker) -- Tomas Holmstrom and Henrik Zetterberg continue to provide offensive punch for the Detroit Red Wings.

Holmstrom scored a pair of goals and Zetterberg extended his points streak to 10 games with an assist as the Red Wings edged the Vancouver Canucks, 3-2, on Wednesday.

Defenseman Brian Rafalski collected two assists for Detroit, which has won three straight and four of five.

"I think our guys were determined," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "They got to the net, had some chances and created some screens."

Matt Ellis opened the scoring late in the first period with his second career goal.

Mikael Samuelsson carried the puck into the offensive zone on the left side and cut across the top of the slot as a crowd formed in front of goaltender Roberto Luongo. As Samuelsson's shot lost steam, Ellis swept it past a screened Luongo with 2:26 remaining in the session for a 1-0 lead.

"It's what I've always done, I've always gone into high-traffic areas, the dirty areas on the ice," Ellis said. "That's part of my bread and butter, is battling for pucks. They don't have to be pretty, but somehow they find a way to the back of the net."

Luongo felt he was interfered with all night, including on Ellis' goal.

"It happened three times in the first 25 minutes, and one of them was a goal," Luongo said. "I didn't see the replay on it yet, so I don't know exactly what happened. I'm sure it was definitely part of their game plan."

The 26-year-old Ellis, who spent the previous four seasons in the American Hockey League, extended his points streak to four games with the tally.

Detroit doubled its advantage during a power play early in the second.

Holmstrom scored in usual fashion, parking himself in front of the net and deflecting Rafalski's wrist shot from above the slot with the shaft of his stick at 2:23, just 19 seconds into the man advantage. It was Holmstrom's sixth goal of the season and fourth on the power play.

"It's a power play, so I know the shot's going to come," Holmstrom said. "Sure enough, here it comes and I get the tip."

"Homer's first goal was a great deflection," Zetterberg said. "I don't think he deserves the penalties that he gets, and it's nice for him to get some of the goals back."

Just over three minutes later, Vancouver halved the deficit. Matt Cooke, who failed to clear the puck during the Red Wings' power play, unleashed a one-timer from the high slot that deflected off Detroit's Kris Draper and past netminder Dominik Hasek at 5:33 for his second goal of the season.

But the Red Wings' high-scoring line struck again late in the second to restore the two-goal bulge. Pavel Datsyuk passed the puck from behind the net to Zetterberg, who found Holmstrom alone on the right side of the crease for an easy tap-in with 4:20 to go.

"Hank threw it in there, got in on the forecheck," Holmstrom said. "They turned it over, got it to me and it was an easy tap-in. ... They make it easy for me. I'm probably playing with the two best players in the NHL. It's a good mix. They hold onto the puck, and I know sooner or later, the puck is coming to me."

Zetterberg's assist gave him at least one point in every game this season. The Swede leads the NHL in scoring with 18 points.

Zetterberg cost Detroit a goal early in the third as he was called for hooking. The Canucks cashed in less than a minute later, when Daniel Sedin chipped a backhander past a screened Hasek at 1:47 to draw Vancouver within 3-2.

Hasek needed to make just 13 saves for the Red Wings, while Luongo turned aside 36 shots for the Canucks, who have lost four of five and fell to 0-5-0 when trailing after two periods.

"My job is to stop the puck, and I try to do that every night," Luongo said. "Unfortunately, we came up short tonight. ... Sometimes you've got to find ways to win even though a team takes the play to you a little bit. Right now, we're having trouble finding ways to win."

"We got outplayed pretty badly tonight," Canucks coach Alain Vigneault said. "We're chasing the puck two-thirds of the time. We were expending a lot of energy and it makes it really challenging. We had a lot of our players tonight that I felt looked like they were skating in quicksand."

Vancouver defenseman Sami Salo returned to the lineup after missing nine games with a wrist injury.

"It was tough," Salo said of his first appearance of the season. "It's been quite a long time since I played in a game, so the first 50-55 minutes was kind of a struggle. Then I started to feel better the last five or eight minutes, started to have a little more jump."

While the Canucks got back a player, they also lost one when Rick Rypien suffered a broken finger on his first shift of the game.

"Toward the end of the first shift, the puck was in the slot, the guy teed it up and (I) blocked the shot," Rypien said. "I've blocked a shot like that many times. Just happened."