Henrik Zetterberg scored midway through the third period and Jimmy Howard made 31 saves, giving the host Detroit Red Wings a 3-1 victory against the Vancouver Canucks last night.

Zetterberg took a long pass from Brad Stuart, slipped past the defense and lifted a backhander over Roberto Luongo's left shoulder for his team-leading 17th point.

Luongo made 26 saves in his first start since facing Detroit Oct. 27 when a broken rib was aggravated. After Luongo was pulled for an extra skater, Niklas Kronwall cleared the puck from the Red Wings' end, got a fortunate bounce off the boards and it trickled into the empty net for Detroit's third goal.

Tomas Holmstrom gave Detroit a 1-0 lead late in the first period. Vancouver's Mason Raymond tied it in the second.

Detroit won its third consecutive home game and is 5-1 after a .500 start.

The Canucks have lost three games in row and close a five-game road trip tomorrow at Colorado.

The Canucks outshot Detroit, 15-5, in the first period.

• Panthers 1, Bruins 0: Tomas Vokoun stopped 40 shots for his third shutout of the season, and Cory Stillman scored in a shootout to give visiting Florida a victory against host Boston.

• Flyers 5, Senators 1: Ray Emery made 22 saves in his first start against his former team, and Danny Briere scored two goals to help Philadelphia beat visiting Ottawa.

• Thrashers 5, Rangers 3: Ilya Kovalchuk had a goal and two assists in his first game back from a foot injury, and Rich Peverley also had a goal and two assists as visiting Atlanta defeated New York. Kovalchuk had missed the previous six games.

• Lightning 4, Wild 3: Ryan Malone tied it with 14.7 seconds left in regulation, and Vincent Lecavalier and Steven Stamkos scored in the shootout to give host Tampa Bay a comeback win against Minnesota.

• Predators 3, Blues 1: Jordin Tootoo scored on a wrist shot with 3:43 left to give visiting Nashville a victory against St. Louis.

• Canadiens 4, Coyotes 2: Marc-Andre Bergeron and Glen Metropolit scored 1:02 apart early in the third as visiting Montreal defeated Phoenix.

• On the verge of leaving baseball, Donald Fehr is turning his attention to hockey. Fehr was appointed to assist the NHL Players' Association in its search for an executive director. The hockey union said Fehr will work with two committees. In addition to the search committee, a second panel will review the union's constitution.

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