San Jose, CA (Sports Network) - Henrik Zetterberg posted two goals and two assists to lead the Detroit Red Wings to a 5-3 win over San Jose in a battle of Western Conference heavyweights at the Shark Tank.
Pavel Datsyuk tallied a goal and two assists while Dan Cleary and Patrick Eaves also scored for the Red Wings, who have won three straight and eight of their last 10 games overall (8-1-1).
Jimmy Howard allowed three goals on 28 shots in the victory.
"It's fun when it clicks," Zetterberg said. "We find each other out there and the puck goes in."
Dany Heatley, Benn Ferriero and Ryan Clowe scored for the Sharks, who fell to 2-3-2 over their last seven contests. Antero Niittymaki finished with 24 saves in the loss.
After Cleary's 11th goal opened the scoring on the power play 4:50 into the game, a nifty move by Datsyuk made it 2-0. Datsyuk split a pair of defenders in the slot, moved in alone, waited out Niittymaki and slid the disc into the back of the cage near the left post at 8:01 of the first period.
Less than two minutes later, the Sharks cut their deficit in half. On the power play, Joe Thornton held control along the goal line to the right of the net and sent the disc into the goal mouth before it deflected off of Heatley and went in.
Zetterberg's eighth goal of 2010-11 restored Detroit's two-goal lead 2:58 into the middle stanza. Datsyuk held the puck in the right circle and sent a cross- ice pass to Brian Rafalski inside the opposite circle. Rafalski quickly sent a soft pass into the slot, where a snap shot one-timer by Zetterberg lit the lamp.
Soon after, Ferriero's backhander from the top of the crease -- as he was falling to the ice -- brought San Jose within 3-2 at the 4:52 mark.
With only 11 seconds to go before the second intermission, Detroit again regained a two-goal lead when Cleary's one-timer from above the left circle was deflected home by Eaves from in front.
Datsyuk and Zetterberg worked their magic for a 5-2 advantage at 7:55 of the final stanza. Datsyuk picked up the pick inside the left circle, moved into the slot and sent a pass back to Zetterberg for a tally from the left post.
Clowe's fifth goal of the season with 2:32 remaining capped the scoring.
"I thought early we had some real good chances in the first [period]," Heatley said. "We had hung around and made some good plays to score some goals on."
With an assist, Thornton recorded his 500th point in a Sharks uniform on the fifth anniversary of his trade to San Jose...Datsyuk has 19 assists this season...Tomas Holmstrom had the only four penalty minutes for Detroit, which was won six of the last eight meetings with San Jose...Howard made 14 saves in the first period...The Sharks were 1-for-2 on the power play, while Detroit ended 1-for-4 with the extra skater...Attendance was 17,562.