Datsyuk, Holmstrom fuel Red Wings' victory over Avs

DETROIT -- Dominik Hasek had an easy game one day before his 42nd birthday.

Hasek stopped 11 shots to help the Detroit Red Wings beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-1 Sunday to snap a three-game losing streak.

"That was my lowest amount of shots in a long time," Hasek said.

Pavel Datsyuk and Tomas Holmstrom each had a goal and an assist and Kirk Maltby also scored for the Red Wings.

Paul Stastny got the Avalanche's goal and Jose Theodore stopped 38 shots. The 12 shots on goal were a season low for Colorado. The previous low had been 17, which happened twice.

"We got outplayed," Avalanche captain Joe Sakic said. "One of our worst performances of the year. ... I thought they were really skating, their 'D' were stepping up. They didn't give us any room in the neutral zone."

Datsyuk opened the scoring 9:44 into the second period with his 14th goal. He took Henrik Zetterberg's pass, from behind the net, as he cut across the slot. Datsyuk then waited until Theodore was out of position, and calmly put the puck into the net.

Holmstrom swatted a rebound into the net with 5:58 left for his 15th goal. The play was reviewed to see if Holmstrom's stick was too high, but the goal stood.

"It happened so fast," Holmstrom said. "It was a close call, but glad it was on my side."

Colorado coach Joel Quenneville was livid when it was called a goal.

"We all thought it was high," he said.

Stastny got a power-play goal when he put in a rebound just 35 seconds later to thwart Hasek's shutout bid with his 14th of the season.

Maltby added his goal with 1:06 remaining.

Detroit defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom was hit behind his right ear by a shot from Colorado's Andrew Brunette 3:52 into the second period. Lidstrom went down and was tended to by Red Wings trainer Piet Van Zant. However, Lidstrom skated to the bench without assistance and didn't miss a shift.

"I got lucky on that one. It me on the back of my head, right behind the ear," Lidstrom said. "I have more of a welt back there [than a cut]. It hurt a little bit. Everything's fine."

Neither team could manage a shot until more than 7 minutes had been played. Avalanche defenseman Ken Klee finally got a soft wrist shot through from the blue line on Hasek at 7:25.

Detroit outshot Colorado 9-4 in the first period and 14-3 in the second.

"We didn't give Dom a lot of work, which is good," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said.

Game notes
Colorado D Patrice Brisebois, who has been out since late December, will undergo season-ending surgery for a herniated disc. ... Detroit centers Robert Lang and Kris Draper returned after missing a game because of the flu. ... Theodore started for the first time since Dec. 27, when he allowed five goals in a loss to Dallas. ... Red Wings D Chris Chelios, the oldest player in the NHL, turned 45 on Thursday.