DETROIT -- Detroit Red Wings forward Henrik Zetterberg joked that his linemate, Pavel Datsyuk, cost himself a chance at winning another Lady Byng Trophy by fighting Anaheim's Corey Perry on Friday night.

Jimmy Howard said Datsyuk is deceptively strong. Johan Franzen said seeing Datsyuk throw punches was "unbelievable.''

Coach Mike Babcock was just relieved his star center didn't break his hand during the Red Wings' dominant 4-0 season-opening victory against the Ducks at Joe Louis Arena.

They were all impressed by the way Datsyuk handled himself against the bigger Perry, who picked a fight at 7:41 of the third period and ended up getting dropped along the boards.

Datsyuk also was impressive with the puck, picking up a goal and an assist to record a rare "Gordie Howe hat trick.''

Datsyuk was in a jovial mood after the game. His only previous fight was against Anaheim's Scott Niedermayer in the 2009 playoffs.

"I'm happy to have Gordie Howe hat trick, but it's not my best dream,'' Datsyuk said. "We win, that's more important for us.

"Now, every time (people) are going to ask me after the game, 'Are you going to fight?' "

Mike Modano scored on his first shot in his Red Wings debut. Dan Cleary had one goal and one assist and Franzen also scored for Detroit. Howard stopped 21 shots for his fourth career shutout.

But most of the talk after the spirited, chippy game was about Datsyuk's bout, which brought the sellout crowd to its feet.

"It doesn't surprise me,'' Howard said. "He's a special player, he's really good. He's really strong. I think Perry thought it was probably going to be a walk in the park. You can just tell how strong Pav is when he's got the puck on his stick and nobody can knock it off him. He's a tough guy.''

Franzen said the whole bench was cheering.

"It was great to see,'' Franzen said. "He's a strong guy, he can defend himself. There were no linesmen next to them (to break it up), so he had to do his best.''

Said Zetterberg: "He is feisty. He had good balance. It was good to see.''

Datsyuk is a four-time Lady Byng winner for sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct. If that was his last career fight, Babcock will be delighted.

"He's a real good player and really strong, but I don't need to see Pav fight anymore,'' Babcock said. "It was one of those situations where they got frustrated and things happened.''

Before that, the loudest cheers were for Modano, a Westland native who signed a one-year deal in August after the Dallas Stars declined to offer him a contract. He gave Detroit a 2-0 lead at 5:35 of the first period by taking a pass from Cleary and firing a wrist shot past Jonas Hiller.

"You kind of dream about those opportunities and chances, but they never quite turn out the way you dream about it,'' Modano said. "To get that out of the way gets me a little relief for the next couple of weeks.''

Franzen opened the scoring on his team's previous shot, at 5:11. He fired in a wrist shot after a give-and-go with Valtteri Filppula, while Todd Bertuzzi was parked in front of the net.

Detroit added to its lead in the second period when Datsyuk redirected a pass from Zetterberg past Hiller at 5:29 and Cleary scored at 16:55.

Red Wings defenseman Jonathan Ericsson left the game after the first period due to back spasms. Babcock said he'll be replaced by rookie Jakub Kindl for Saturday's game at Chicago.

It was a tremendous start for Howard in his second season. But he'll watch Chris Osgood start Saturday.

"I felt really good out there, I was seeing the puck,'' Howard said. "The guys did an absolute tremendous job in front of me.''

The Red Wings executed their game plan.

"We talked about getting to their (defense) as quick as possible, not give them any time to give the puck to their forwards,'' Franzen said.

Babcock said, all in all, there was a lot to like about this game.

"We had four lines with good tempo and had the puck a lot,'' he said. "I thought we controlled most of the game.

"It appears to me we're going to have a deep team.''