Tomas Holmstrom tipped and tapped the Detroit Red Wings to a 3-2 victory over the visiting Vancouver Canucks at the Joe Louis Arena on Wednesday night.

Holmstrom scored twice from the lip of the crease, tipping a slapshot from Brian Rafalski and tapping in a centring pass from Henrik Zetterberg.

Dominik Hasek denies Brendan Morrison in a 3-2 Red Wings win.
(Paul Sancya/Associated Press)

"Obviously, he is a big body and battles hard in front of the net," Canucks defenceman Sami Salo said of Holmstrom, who loves to park himself in the crease.

"It is a tough battle for the defence. Also, for the goalie."

Zetterberg's assist extended his points streak to 10 games and gave him an NHL-high 18 points (seven goals, 11 assists).

Matt Ellis opened the scoring on a backward spin move as the surging Red Wings (7-2-1) earned their fourth win in five games.

Rafalski contributed two assists in support of Dominik Hasek, who faced 15 shots.

"Our guys were determined," Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock said. "They got to the net, had chances, and created screens."

Matt Cooke and Daniel Sedin tallied for the Canucks (4-5-0), losers in four of their last five games.

Vancouver prevailed in its previous two trips to Detroit.

Roberto Luongo, who managed 36 saves in defeat, held the Red Wings at bay until Ellis scored his second goal of the season at 17:34 of the second period.

Holmstrom re-directed Rafalski's slapshot from the point for a power-play goal that made it 2-0 at 2:23 of the second period.

"It is a power play, so I know the shot is going to come," Holmstrom said. "Sure enough, here it comes and I get the tip."
 
However, the Canucks took only 3:10 to respond as Ryan Kesler won a faceoff back to Cooke, who blasted his second by Hasek to cut the deficit to 2-1.

Detroit restored its two-goal bulge when Canucks defencemen Aaron Miller and Willie Mitchell collided and coughed up the puck to Zetterberg, who set up a wide-open Holmstrom for his seventh with 4:20 left in the period.

"It was an easy tap in," Holmstrom said.

Vancouver closed the gap 1:47 into the third period as Henrik Sedin sent a backhand pass to twin brother Daniel, who threaded a backhand shot through two rearguards for his fourth.

With files from the Canadian Press