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Franzen, Filppula fuel Red Wings past Sabres

Mar 3, 2008 - 3:01 AM BUFFALO, New York (Ticker) -- Johan Franzen and Valtteri Filppula each had a goal and an assist to lead the Detroit Red Wings to a 4-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday.

Dallas Drake and Kirk Maltby also scored and defenseman Niklas Kronwall added two assists for Detroit, which won for just the second time in the last 12 games (2-8-2).

"We talked a lot about just getting to the net and shooting the puck," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "We got off to a good start, and had the puck a lot."

Patrick Kaleta and Jason Pominville tallied for Buffalo, which has yielded 14 goals over the three games it has played since trading All-Star defenseman Brian Campbell to San Jose.

After the teams exchanged tallies in the first period, Filppula scored his 18th goal of the season just 5:11 into the second period after he one-timed a pass past Ryan Miller.

"It was a great play," Filppula said. "Franzen gave it to (Jiri) Hudler and he basically gave me an empty netter. It was the power play, too, so that helped."

Franzen doubled Detroit's advantage to 3-1 with 5:44 remaining in the second session after converting a pass from Kronwall past Miller for his first goal in the last eight games.

Pominville halved the deficit just 3:12 into the third period, skating out from a scrum along the side boards and beating Dominik Hasek to the glove side for his 20th goal of the campaign.

"I thought the whistle was going to go any second and I just happened to turn and there was a 2-on-none," Maltby said. "It's good we didn't get panicked. It seemed like in the past we found a way for them to tie it up or get that go-ahead goal. They scored, but we came back and played well."

Maltby regained the two-goal cushion by scoring his third goal of the season and first since October 26.

Kaleta opened the scoring just under three minutes into the contest after beating Hasek for his second goal of the season.

Drake leveled the contest nearly nine minutes later.

After Drake was denied by Miller, the rebound deflected off defenseman Jaroslav Spacek's left skate and went in. Drake had gone 14 games without a point.

"I know how they play, I was in the West Coast," said Spacek, who played with the Edmonton Oilers during the 2005-06 season. "They all skate very good. They can move the puck around. They have defense who can join. They play simple hockey. It paid off for them."

Hasek, a six-time Vezina Trophy winner, returned to Buffalo for only the third time since he retired as a member of the Sabres after the 2001 season. He finished with 22 saves.

"I treat it like any other game," Hasek said. "I got really excited to go and win - and that's what happened."