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A missed penalty shot, an ineffective power play and a late Detroit goal cost the Calgary Flames a chance to move into a playoff position in the tightly contested Western Conference.
Tomas Holmstrom scored his 20th goal of the season on a deflection with 1:19 left in the third period as the Red Wings earned an important 2-1 road victory over the Flames on Monday night.
In a battle for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference, the eighth-place Red Wings moved three points up on the ninth-place Flames. Both teams have 13 games remaining.
Calgary had very good chances to take control of the game, but Curtis Glencross couldn't score on a penalty shot and the Flames went 0-for-3 on the power play, including a four-minute man advantage with the score tied 1-1.
"I hope there's some guys disappointed in there. There better be. We found ways to lose two games here when we need to find ways to win games," said Calgary coach Brent Sutter. "Tonight we had a chance and never made the most of the opportunity. Last night we beat ourselves because we had a brutal first period."
The Flames lost 3-1 Sunday night in Vancouver.
"It's disappointing," said Flames defenceman Steve Staios. "We played well enough to have a chance to win that game. Now we find ourselves in a more difficult situation, but we'll have to show a lot of resilience and see what we're made of now."
Elsewhere in the NHL, Columbus beat Edmonton 5-3 and New Jersey edged Boston 3-2.
At Calgary, Holmstrom scored when he reached out and redirected Johan Franzen's slapshot out of mid-air, breaking a 1-1 tie.
"Every game against them is like a playoff game," Holmstrom said. "But we really needed this game and it was uphill pretty much from the first couple shifts when they scored. It was a good, grinding 60 minutes from us."
Pavel Datsyuk also scored for Detroit (34-23-12), which has won three straight.
Craig Conroy scored the lone goal for Calgary (34-26-9). The Flames have dropped two in a row on the heels of a four-game winning streak.
Calgary had a great chance to break a 1-1 deadlock when Brian Rafalski's high-stick on Conroy early in the third period put Calgary on a four-minute power play.
However, the Flames generated just two shots on goal during the lengthy man advantage, and the Pengrowth Saddledome crowd of 19,289 started booing the Flames as they failed repeatedly to get set up in the Detroit zone.
"You'd like to find ways to get a goal, but also get scoring chances and keep momentum, so that was definitely a missed opportunity," said Flames captain Jarome Iginla.
Detroit's penalty killing continued to be superb. They have now gone six games without surrendering a power play goal, killing off 19 penalties during that span.
"It was unbelievable, guys were getting sticks in the lane, they broke up passes, we collapsed down and didn't really give them much of anything," said Detroit goaltender Jimmy Howard. "When the power play's constantly having to turn their back and go back and get the puck, it leaves them no time to get set up."
With Calgary up 1-0, Glencross had a great chance to put the Flames up by two when was awarded a penalty shot after being hooked from behind while on a short-handed breakaway.
However, Glencross' shot was kicked out by Howard.
"It's only one opportunity all night. There's 60 other minutes in the game. He made a nice save and there's nothing I can do about it," said Glencross, who was trying for his fourth short-handed goal.
Forty seconds later, the Wings capitalized with the power-play. With Holmstrom positioned just outside the goal crease and obstructing Kiprusoff's view, Datsyuk scored his 22nd goal, tying the score 1-1.
Detroit finished the night 1-for-1 with the extra man while Calgary went 0-for-3.
The Flames are 2-for-23 with the extra man over their last eight games.
"We need our power-play to capitalize for us. In these games that are so tight it comes down to specialty teams. That's what the difference was tonight too," said Sutter.
Calgary opened the scoring 1:47 into the first period taking advantage of Andreas Lilja's inability to clear the puck out of the Red Wings end. Conroy was right alone at the side of the net to tuck in puck after Nigel Dawes' shot trickled wide.
It was the first goal since New Year's Eve for Conroy, who had been sidelined twice since then with two injuries that forced him to miss 17 games.
Detroit outshot Calgary 28-23.
Blue Jackets 5 Oilers 3
At Columbus, Ohio, Antoine Vermette had two assists and scored the clinching empty-netter, and Kristian Huselius added a goal and three assists for the Blue Jackets.
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Devils 3 Bruins 2
At Newark, N.J., David Clarkson had a goal and an assist as the New Jersey Devils scored three times in the first period against Tim Thomas and held on for a victory over Boston.
