VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -- The Detroit Red Wings have
had the hot hand in NHL shootouts this season.



Pavel Datsyuk and Jiri Hudler scored shootout goals, and the Red
Wings padded their lead over Vancouver in the Western Conference
standings with a 4-3 victory against the Canucks on Thursday
night.



Detroit has won all six of its games decided by that tiebreaker
and it's just building more confidence.



"When you've won a few in a shootout you're a confident bunch,"
captain Nicklas Lidstrom, adding that confidence starts with Red
Wings goalie Jimmy Howard and spreads to the shooters.



"Howard's been playing real great for us and guys have been
confident coming in on our shootouts.



"We've been switching it up a little bit, having different guys
go but guys have been very confident going in there."



Datsyuk and Hudler both beat Canuck netminder Roberto Luongo on
the stick side.



Howard had an easier time as he smothered Alex Edler's attempt
when the Vancouver shooter got in too close and forced Mason
Raymond to lose control of the puck.



Detroit (35-16-1) won for the ninth time in 10 games to move
four points ahead of Vancouver (31-15-5), which has a game in
hand.



It was also the fourth win in the last four road games for
Detroit, which is now 15-14-0 away from home after struggling
away from Joe Louis Arena earlier in the season.



The Canucks closed out a six-game homestand spread over the
all-star break with a 3-3 record.



Drew Miller, Hudler and Dan Cleary gave the Red Wings one-goal
leads as Detroit moved five points clear of Nashville in the
competitive Central Division.



Ryan Kesler, Alex Burrows and Raymond forced overtime for the
Canucks who were outshot 43-25 after 65 minutes.



The Wings jumped on the Canucks early and only Luongo's
acrobatics kept Vancouver close.



"We got taken to school," said Canucks coach Alain Vigneault who
split up twins Daniel and Henrik Sedin in some line juggling to
start the third period. "It was obvious to everybody."



"Obviously, we can play a lot better. That's no secret to
anybody that knows our team. Tonight, the best team on the ice
was obviously, by far, Detroit."



Nudging a point ahead of a conference rival because of the
shootout win was not lost on the Wings.



"That's six critical points when you look at it," Cleary said of
Detroit's dominance in the tiebreaker.



"Shootouts are important, not something we take for fun. If you
look at it at the end of the season, those are important points
- win or lose."



While Hudler scored his fourth goal in three games and the
decisive goal in the shootout, Miller counted after a giveaway
allowed Burrows to give the Canucks a 2-2 tie midway through the
third period.



"I just told myself I've got to get out there and make a
difference," said Miller who broke a 17-game goalless drought
Tuesday in a victory in Calgary.



"I guess scoring a goal is the best way to do that. You want to
get that goal back for your team."



Cleary was playing despite having a cyst on the back of his knee
treated at a local hospital on Wednesday but it didn't stop him
from stickhandling in on Luongo for the opening goal.



"It was a little sore as the game went on," said Cleary who is
facing more treatments.



"It's sore right now but, to be honest with you, it's easier
skating than walking."



Both Cleary and Lidstrom expect the Wings to keep improving on
the road.



"The thing I like is we've got a good goaltender and great
balance in lines, we've got a good game plan and we're a
disciplined team," Cleary said.



Lidstrom, who has played on great Detroit clubs in the past,
said skill helps but there's plenty of grit on these Wings.



"We're a very solid group," Lidstrom said.



"We're not a faster team that scores nice goals all the time. We
can grind it out and stay with teams and get wins that way too."



Kesler said it was one of those games where the Canucks just
couldn't generate offence.



"You have to take the positives out of it," said Kesler. "We
obviously fought through a lot.



"We're down twice, three times in the game, and battled back
every time and got a point out of it, which was important."



Luongo, who robbed several Wings on break-ins, said a slow start
is part of the peaks and valleys of a long season.



"You don't want this to go on forever obviously," he said after
his first start in nine days.



"We know we're a much better team than that and good teams find
ways to perform, especially in big games like that.



"Even though we didn't have our best game tonight, I thought we
found a way to get a point."



Notes: The teams conclude their season series Feb. 23 at Joe
Louis Arena ... Winger Chris Higgins was out of the Canuck
lineup with the flu ... Andrew Alberts drew in as a seventh
defenseman ... Howard, who got the day off from practice on
Wednesday, made 25 saves when the Wings blanked Vancouver 2-0 on
Oct. 13 ... Datsyuk was also allowed to skip the practice after
he and Howard participated in the all-star weekend ... Tomas
Holmstrom was back in the Detroit lineup after sitting out
Tuesday's 3-1 win in Calgary with soreness in both knees after
injections last week.