GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Rookie goaltender Petr Mrazek made 22 saves and came within 1:54 of his second straight shutout in the Detroit Red Wings' 3-1 victory against the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday.
Riley Sheahan, Tomas Tatar and Darren Helm scored for Detroit (31-12-9), which has won three in a row and 11 of its past 13 games. The Red Wings moved into first place in the Atlantic Division; Detroit and the Tampa Bay Lightning each have 71 points, but the Red Wings have played two fewer games.
With starter Jimmy Howard out since Jan. 10 with a groin injury, Mrazek has made 10 straight starts and won nine of them. He shut out the Colorado Avalanche 3-0 on Thursday and stretched his personal scoreless streak to 132 minutes, 42 seconds before Arizona defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored with 1:54 left in regulation.
Mrazek made his biggest save of the night with 8:22 to play and the Red Wings clinging to a 1-0 lead when he stopped Martin Erat's penalty shot with his blocker. Erat was awarded the penalty shot after being hauled down by Pavel Datsyuk on a shorthanded breakaway.
Tatar made it 2-0 with 3:00 remaining when he finished off a 2-on-1 by converting a pass from Helm. After Ekman-Larsson got the Coyotes (19-27-7) back within a goal with his 16th of the season, a career high and tops among NHL defensemen, Helm put the game away by hitting the empty net with 1:16 left for his 11th of the season.
Mrazek, who had short stints with Detroit in each of the past two seasons, is now 13-4-0 in 2-14-15. But with Howard ready to return next week and regular backup Jonas Gustavsson also healthy again, he will like spend his 23rd birthday (next Saturday) back in the American Hockey League with the Grand Rapids Griffins.
Coyotes goaltender Mike Smith, who had been 3-0-1 in his past four starts against Detroit, continued his strong play with 23 saves, but the Arizona offense produced only one goal for the second straight game.
Detroit outshot Arizona 11-7 in the first period and the goalies had to be sharp to keep the game scoreless. Mrazek stopped made a quick reflex save on Ekman-Larsson during an early power play and denied Lucas Lessio in alone on the backhand. Smith made saves on a shot by Helm, a deflection by Tatar and a deflection by Stephen Weiss.
But Detroit's power play, ranked No. 1 in the NHL at 25.8 percent coming into the game, needed all of 23 seconds after Arizona's Andrew Campbell was sent off for roughing at 7:48 of the second period to put the Red Wings ahead to stay.
Datsyuk intercepted a clearing attempt by penalty-killer Antoine Vermette and found Sheahan alone at the top of the right circle. Sheahan one-timed a shot over Smith's glove at 8:11 for his ninth goal of the season. Datsyuk has an assist in four straight games and 24 for the season.
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