Tomas Holmstrom made Anaheim pay for undisciplined play and Red Wings goalie Dominik Hasek put on a clinic in leading Detroit to victory in Game 1 of the NHL Western Conference final.

Holmstrom's goal at 15:06 of the third period — the Red Wings' second power-play marker of the night — propelled Detroit to a 2-1 win over the visiting Ducks in a physical contest Friday.

The Red Wings' Henrik Zetterberg, left, and Mikael Samuelsson celebrate Zetterberg's first-period goal.
(Paul Sancya/Associated Press)

"Dom was outstanding," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "Dom shut the door."

Henrik Zetterberg had the other goal for the Red Wings, who raised their record to 6-1 at Joe Louis Arena in this year's Stanley Cup playoffs.

Anaheim's Chris Kunitz scored his first goal in 13 playoff contests and 17 games overall dating back to the regular season.

Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is Sunday in Detroit (CBC, 7:30 p.m. ET).

The Ducks had a chance to tie the game late in the third period with Detroit's Robert Lang serving a hooking penalty. Coach Randy Carlyle pulled goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguère to give his team a 6-on-4, but Hasek came up big.

The Dominator robbed Teemu Selanne from the bottom of the faceoff circle and denied Corey Perry from in close.

Hasek stopped 31 of 32 shots on the night and was a huge reason Anaheim went 0-for-7 on the power play.

Conversely, the Wings scored twice in four chances and are 12-for-67 (18 per cent) in their last 12 games.

Beauchemin victimized

It was a tough night for Ducks defenceman Francois Beauchemin, who played a big part in both Detroit goals.

On Holmstrom's winner, Beauchemin swiped at the puck in the crease after it hit the Red Wing in front of the Anaheim net and rolled by Giguère's left pad and across the goal line.

"We had traffic [in front of the net] and it was a good goal," Babcock said.

Zetterberg opened the scoring at 3:44 of the first period when he drove the net and banked a shot off Beauchemin's skate and through Giguère's legs for his fifth goal of these playoffs. Giguere finished with 17 saves.

"That's a freak thing that happens and it happened to us," Carlyle said, referring to both goals going in off Beauchemin. "We'll move on."

Anaheim allowed just three goals on 56 power plays during the first two rounds, leading to an NHL-high 94.6 per cent success rate on penalty killing.

Zetterberg nearly gave the Red Wings a 2-1 advantage midway through the third period, but his redirect of a Mikael Samuelsson shot hit the post.

Zetterberg hot at home

All five of Zetterberg's goals and nine points this post-season have come on home ice.

Anaheim tied the game 1:34 into the frame when Kunitz beat Hasek to the glove side to snap the latter's shutout streak at nearly 157 minutes, or seven-plus periods.

It was the first goal allowed by Hasek since San Jose's Marcel Goc beat the Czech netminder at 4:53 of the first period in Game 5 of a West semifinal.

Anaheim controlled play often over the first two periods, outshooting Detroit 18-11, but had nothing to show for it.

Trailing 1-0 in the first, the Ducks had an opportunity to pull even but failed to convert a two-man advantage for 94 seconds during which Ryan Getzlaf wired a shot off the post.

Hasek shut the door from there, stopping Selanne on a screened shot with less than two minutes left in the opening period.

Detroit improved to 6-0 when leading after two periods in the 2007 playoffs.

Each of the previous three playoff meetings between the teams ended with sweeps, with the Red Wings winning in 1997 and 1999, and Anaheim advancing past them in 2003 with Babcock behind its bench.

With files from the Associated Press