Red Wings edge Flames

Calgary, AB (SportsNetwork.com) - Justin Abdelkader scored the winner in the third period as the Detroit Red Wings took a 4-3 win over the Calgary Flames on Friday.

Pavel Datsyuk had a goal and an assist, while Tomas Tatar and Henrik Zetterberg also scored for the Red Wings, who have won the first two games of a four-game western Canada swing. Jimmy Howard made 22 stops in the win.

"We all worked hard out there tonight," said Howard. "It was nice to get this win since we have another one tomorrow against another tough team."

Curtis Glencross, Sean Monahan and Chris Butler all scored for the Flames, who have dropped four of five. Joey MacDonald gave up all four goals on 22 shots in the loss.

"I thought that we didn't skate like the way we could," said Calgary head coach Bob Hartley. "The way that the Wings play, they kind of slow down the play and I felt that we got caught a bit especially with scoring two goals, they kind of put us back on our heels a little bit. I just felt that we didn't have our usual jump."

With the score tied at 2-all in the third period, Detroit went ahead thanks to a bad goal as Tatar threw the puck towards the net from the right corner boards and it bounced off the right skate of MacDonald and snuck in at 1:25.

Abdelkader gave the Wings a 4-2 lead with 3:24 to play as he skated out from the right side of the net and from the circle he beat MacDonald to the short side with a wrister.

The goal proved fortunate as Glencross got one in with the goalie pulled, but it came with 9.8 seconds left and the Flames were unable to get another chance.

Detroit scored at 10:57 of the first period as Jakub Kindl blasted a shot on net from the high slot that was stopped, but Datsyuk eventually snapped home the rebound for his sixth of the season.

The Red Wings made it a 2-0 game with 2:45 left in the first as Todd Bertuzzi sent a backhand pass from the left side to the right, where Zetterberg was all alone for the easy goal.

Calgary scored at 10:15 of the second period as Jiri Hudler found Butler, who shot it off the skate of a Red Wing and into the net for his first of the year.

The Flames then tied the game 2 1/2 minutes later as Monahan's quick shot from the right circle found the back of the net.

Game Notes

Detroit's Mike Babcock coached his 800th game ... Detroit plays in Edmonton on Saturday ... Calgary hits the road for the next four games starting in Chicago on Sunday ... Calgary won all three games against Detroit last season ... Detroit was 0-for-3 on the power play, while Calgary went 0-for-5.