Red Wings explode against Canucks

2/25/2013

DETROIT — Less than 30 hours after being burdened with a five-game losing skid, the Detroit Red Wings are suddenly headed in the other direction.

Damien Brunner had two goals and two assists, and Joakim Andersson scored twice for the Red Wings in an 8-3 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday.

The Red Wings ended their losing streak with a 4-0 win over Nashville on Saturday night and then followed it up with a rout of the Canucks.

"This was a tough game. You're playing at 5:00 after playing a 7:00 the night before," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. "It's one on your schedule you look at, you don't know if you'll have an opportunity to win. We feel real fortunate to have gotten back-to-back wins."

Henrik Zetterberg and Niklas Kronwall had a goal and two assists each, Daniel Cleary added a goal and an assist, and Jordin Tootoo also scored for Detroit, which netted three power-play goals in the second period to take the lead.

"Of course the team that didn't play the night before had more energy. It's natural, but you've just got to keep it simple and not get caught out there for a long time," Zetterberg, the Red Wings captain, said. "We did that today, and we got some goals on the power play, and that helps."

Pavel Datsyuk and Jonathan Ericsson added two assists, and Jimmy Howard made 18 saves.

Daniel Sedin had two goals, and Chris Higgins also had a goal for Vancouver. Henrik Sedin had two assists, and Roberto Luongo stopped 20 shots but lost in regulation for the first time this season.

The Red Wings entered ranked 26th in the NHL on the power play.