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Datsyuk helps Red Wings douse Flames

Nov 28, 2007 - 3:55 AM DETROIT (Ticker) -- Pavel Datsyuk's stickhandling magic burned the Calgary Flames.

Datsyuk scored two goals and assisted on another to lead the Detroit Red Wings to a 5-3 victory against the Flames on Tuesday.

And he wasn't even feeling his best.

"Today, I don't feel energetic," Datsyuk said. "Today, I went strong (to the net), not much dancing."

Datsyuk's teammates were surprised to hear that.

"I'd like to see him when he's feeling good," Detroit captain Nicklas Lidstrom said with a laugh. "As another player, it's fun to watch him."

Goalie Chris Osgood gave Datsyuk credit for the win.

"That second (goal), especially," said Osgood, who made 19 saves. "(The Flames) come out of the second period down, 3-2, after that 5-on-3 goal and he moves the puck through four guys' feet and buries it in the top of the net.

"They have to be thinking, 'Here he goes again.' We play as hard as we can for eight minutes and he grabs the puck, goes end to end and scores a phenomenal goal. He's a great weapon to have."

The victory allowed Detroit (16-6-2, 34 points) to overtake idle Ottawa (16-5-1, 33 points) for the most points in the NHL.

With Detroit leading, 3-2, entering the third period, Datsyuk gave his team a two-goal cushion just 37 seconds into the session.

Datsyuk stickhandled through three Calgary defenders and backhanded a shot over goaltender Curtis McElhinney for his second tally of the game.

Calgary halved the deficit when Alex Tanguay scored on an odd-man rush at 3:02, but Valtteri Filppula scored just over three minutes later after a Flames turnover to give the Red Wings a 5-3 lead.

Each team scored during a 5-on-3 power play in the second period.

Detroit's Tomas Holmstrom scored his 13th goal of the season and ninth on the power play at 4:36 of the second period. Holmstrom accepted a feed in the slot from Datsyuk and fired the puck past Miikka Kiprusoff to give the Red Wings a 3-1 lead.

Kiprusoff, who stopped 12 shots before taking a shot off the mask by Lidstrom, was replaced by McElhinney.

McElhinney, playing in only his third game this season, stopped all 11 shots he faced in the second period. He would finish with 18 saves.

Detroit's Jiri Hudler and Chris Chelios were both in the penalty box at 14:03 when Dion Phaneuf's blast from the point beat Osgood to cut into Detroit's lead at 3-2.

Defenseman Robyn Regehr opened the scoring just over 11 minutes into the first period with a shot from just inside the blue line which beat Osgood on the glove side.

The Red Wings rallied with two goals in a 23-second span to take a 2-1 lead.

Datsyuk went around defenseman Cory Sarich before wristing a shot from the slot that just got under the crossbar at 15:49.

"That was an awesome goal," Flames captain Jarome Iginla said. "To score that kind of goal has to be a big boost for their team and for their fans."

Kris Draper gave Detroit a 2-1 lead just 23 seconds later.

Niklas Kronwall took a shot from the point that hit Kirk Maltby and deflected to Draper, who deposited the puck into the open corner of the net.

"We had a real strong start, but we seemed to lose confidence after they scored those goals and we never really recovered," Calgary coach Mike Keenan said.

Draper's night ended soon thereafter.

The former Selke Award winner was helped from the ice with a sprained left knee after he fell awkwardly along the boards late in the first period.

He did not return to the game and had an MRI late Tuesday night.