DETROIT, April 13 (UPI) -- Pavel Datsyuk touched off a run of four unanswered goals Wednesday that lifted Detroit to a 4-2 victory over Phoenix in their playoff opener.
The Red Wings scored three times in the second period to overcome a 1-0 deficit and Jimmy Howard began his second post-season campaign by making 26 saves. Howard went 5-7 last year in his first playoff action before Detroit was eliminated in the second round.
The Coyotes' Kyle Turris scored 2:16 into the contest for the only goal of the first period, but Detroit's powerful offense took over in the second.
Datsyuk scored at the 7:38 mark of the middle period, Johan Franzen tallied with 7:58 to go and Brian Rafalski produced a power-play goal with 1:44 left in the stanza.
Jiri Hudler gave Detroit a 4-1 lead 3:16 into the third. Howard surrendered a goal on Radim Vrbata's slap shot with 12:38 remaining in the game.
Ilya Bryzgalov stopped 32 shots for Phoenix, which is trying to avoid a first-round elimination for the second straight year.
