Datsyuk ends slump, sparks Red Wings

DETROIT -Petr Mrazek made 23 saves for his fourth shutout of the season and Pavel Datsyuk scored two goals in the Detroit Red Wings' 3-0 win against the Florida Panthers at Joe Louis Arena on Monday.
Tomas Tatar scored for Detroit (27-18-8) and Henrik Zetterberg had two assists.

"You know we did a great job with the penalty killers, they did a great job today, so that's one of the keys and one of the reasons I had the shutout today," Mrazek said. "Yeah, I had five shots maybe in the first 25 minutes or 30 minutes, so I had to stay focused. But we did a great job in front of the net."

Al Montoya made 28 saves for Florida (31-16-6).

"I don't think we competed hard enough the first half of the game," Panthers coach Gerard Gallant said. "I just think they wanted it a little bit more than we did."
Tatar gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead 4:19 into the third period when defenseman Jakub Kindl's shot from the point deflected off the shaft of Tatar's stick.

Datsyuk then scored twice in 1:08.
He made it 2-0 with 8:34 left with a power-play goal when he beat Montoya with a wrist shot from the top of the left circle.
Florida coach Gerard Gallant challenged the goal because he thought the play was offside, but the goal stood.

Datsyuk made it 3-0 with 7:26 left when he took a pass from Zetterberg, cut in on Montoya and slid a backhand shot between Montoya's pads. It was Datsyuk's and Zetterberg's second game back playing on the same line.
Both natural centers, Zetterberg and Datsyuk have played on the same line a lot during their careers.

"It's fun," Zetterberg said. "We've been playing on the same team for many, many years and basically seven years since we played with each other for almost a full season, so it's fun when we get a chance to play with each other."

Said Datsyuk: "It's only one game. I hope we just keeping going, find it more together and whole team come together and play better."
Mrazek was able to use his glove to knock away a fluttering shot off Jaromir Jagr's one-timer from the right circle on a 2-on-1 with 5:43 left in the second period.
The Panthers went 9:16 without a shot in the second period.

Detroit forward Gustav Nyquist thought his rebound shot from the bottom of the right circle with 44 seconds left in the first period went in, but replays were inconclusive on whether the puck crossed the goal line.

Florida center Aleksander Barkov did not play in the third period. He took a high, hard hit from Red Wings forward Justin Abdelkader about 6:40 into the second period. Barkov will not play Tuesday against the Buffalo Sabres.

The teams disagreed on whether or not the hit was legal.

"It was a cheap hit. It was a head shot. I don't know why the ref didn't call it," Panthers forward Nick Bjugstad said. "It was a turning point of the game. … I don't think the guys on their bench like to see the game played like that."
"Obviously not trying to hit him in the head or contract him that way," Abdelkader said. "I thought my feet were down and I thought I followed through through his body. But sometimes those hits can change momentum. Hopefully he's alright."

Said Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill: "I thought it was a totally, clean hit. Just a good hockey hit."
Detroit defenseman Mike Green didn't play because of a sore groin.
Jagr, 43, played his 1,600th career game, which is first among active NHL players and 10th all-time.