Wings top Leafs as new top line rolls

DETROIT - Henrik Zetterberg, with the help of linemates Jiri Hudler and Johan Franzen, is authoring his own separation agreement from Pavel Datsyuk.

Zetterberg and Datsyuk have performed wizardry together on many nights in recent seasons, but it looks like the Wings may have finally found enough talent to support the stars on separate lines.

Franzen scored two goals, set up another by Zetterberg while Hudler collected three assists in Detroit's 5-3 exhibition win over the Toronto Maple Leafs Friday at Joe Louis Arena.

"Franzen is real hard in the corner and Hudler can find the open guy all the time," said Zetterberg, who has scored in all four exhibition games he's played. "(Hudler) is real good with the stick and has good vision.

"It's a good line when we work hard."

The Wings were sporadic at best on that front against the Leafs.

They looked at times like a team getting bored with camp and ready to be facing the live fire of the regular season.

Zetterberg and Franzen combined for a power-play goal early in the third to give Detroit a 3-2 lead before the roles reversed on Franzen's game-winning tally with 1:57 remaining.

After Hudler set Zetterberg up for a blast, Franzen crashed goalie Vesa Toskala's crease to cash in the rebound.

"He's so good at seeing openings," Franzen said. "My job is to stay open, create space for them a little bit."

For the game Leafs, the contest's third period highlights the problems they face.

Toronto gave a solid, gritty effort over the final 40 minutes, but it simply didn't have the horses to stay with Detroit down the stretch.

"In the second and third period, we were applying pressure and playing what I like call Leafs hockey now," said Toronto coach Ron Wilson, who saw Jiri Tlusty and Alex Steen score in the middle frame to offset Detroit goals by Franzen and Nick Lidstrom in the opening period.

"It resulted in us playing a great second period."

Zetterberg's power-play goal made it 3-2 early in the third before Toronto's Mikhail Grabovksi beat Detroit goalie Ty Conklin at 9:49.

However, Franzen grabbed the late winner and Valtteri Filppula completed the scoring with an empty-net tally at 19:43.