DETROIT -- Saturday was a festive night at Joe Louis Arena as fans from both sides reveled in the first meeting in more than 16 months between long-time rivals Detroit and Toronto.

The Red Wings celebrated a thrilling 4-2 victory over the Maple Leafs. But, more importantly, it appears goaltender Jimmy Howard avoided a serious injury on his 27th birthday.

Howard left the game at 6:11 of the third period after Joffrey Lupul fell on top of him, appearing to land on his left shoulder. Howard went for tests on what the club called an upper-body injury.

"It doesn’t appear to be anything significant, day-to-day," Red Wings general manager Ken Holland said. "Looks like a strain or a sprain. He’s going to go for a precautionary MRI, but he looked to be OK.

"Unless the tests come back anything different, doctors don’t think so (it’s serious)."

To add insult to injury, Lupul reached his stick around and knocked the puck into the net to tie the game at 2-2.

But Jiri Hudler blasted a shot past rookie goalie James Reimer to give Detroit a 3-2 lead just 38 seconds later. And Todd Bertuzzi scored an empty-net goal with 52 seconds to play.

Joey MacDonald stopped all seven shots he faced in 13:49. He has not allowed a goal in 109:45.

Henrik Zetterberg and Tomas Holmstrom scored power-play goals for the Red Wings, who killed all four Toronto power plays.

The Red Wings ended their three-game winless skid (0-2-1) and snapped the Maple Leafs’ three-game winning streak. It was Detroit’s first win over Toronto since Dec. 9, 2006 (5-1 at the Joe). The Leafs won the previous three games between the teams.

"It's tough coming in when your No. 1 gets hurt like that," MacDonald said. "The last 13 minutes I was wondering what was wrong with him. But we got to take the positives out of it and just got to keep coming in and doing what I’m doing, give the team an opportunity to win every night.

"We didn’t give them a whole lot in the third. I had one good save off a faceoff that kind of got me into the game. It’s tough, but we played pretty well tonight. We got some bodies in front of Reimer. That’s what you got to do with a goalie on a hot streak."

Said Hudler of his game-winning goal: "We got a turnover and Z found me right away," Hudler said. "I took a few steps and there was no thinking there. For once, I didn’t think about making a pass."

The Red Wings were upset that Lupul’s goal was allowed to stand. Nicklas Lidstrom said officials told him it was because Kris Draper pushed Lupul into Howard. But coach Mike Babcock still didn’t like the decision.

"Lupul went into the crease and bumped into our guy and then Draper pushed him in after and (Lupul) fell on him," Babcock said. "We all saw the replay, so it’s easy to evaluate the officiating, but the referees are out there trying to make the right call. The part I don’t like is when Holmstrom’s near the net the whistle goes and the goals are waved off -- and they’re allowed to fall on the goalie."

Holland said the club likely will recall somebody on Sunday to back-up Joey MacDonald for Monday’s game against Chicago.

Holmstrom snapped a 1-1 tie with his 15th goal, on the power play, at 9:17 of the second period. Stationed in front of the net, he tipped in a blast by Niklas Kronwall.

Zetterberg opened the scoring at 5:05 on the power play with his 22nd goal. Zetterberg’s pass to Danny Cleary in front of the net hit Luke Schenn’s skate and came back to him. He backhanded the puck past Reimer through traffic.

Toronto tied it at 17:56 on a goal by Nazem Kadri.

Detroit has scored at least one power-play goal in seven consecutive games. It has converted 9-of-20 opportunities during that stretch.

"We got a couple of good tips there and our penalty killing was real good," Babcock said. "Drapes was real strong on the faceoff circle and we pressured the entries, they couldn’t get set up."

All in all, Lidstrom liked his team’s defensive effort.

"I thought we battled hard and took care of our own zone and played well defensively."

And Babcock enjoyed the atmosphere, even though there were thousands of Leafs fans in the building.

"The fans from both teams were here, singing the Canadian national anthem, they were psyched up and ready top go," Babcock said. "I thought it was great."