PITTSBURGH -- The Detroit Red Wings are stronger on paper, but weaker on the ice.

Their depth has improved, their skill level upgraded with the return of some injured players. And yet they have looked run down in recent games, including Sunday's nationally televised 2-1 shootout loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins at Mellon Arena.

The Penguins dominated the first two periods in this clash between the Stanley Cup finalists in each of the last two seasons.

The Red Wings needed a second consecutive 46-save performance out of Jimmy Howard just to salvage a point.

"Since the Washington game (Jan. 19), we haven't skated as good. Why is that?'' Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "Our execution and our skating isn't even close, and yet I thought today, you got to give the guys credit. We hung in there with goaltending and battled to find a way to get a point.

Dan Cleary tipped in a shot by Brad Stuart to tie the game 1-1 at 11:10 of the third period. But the Penguins improved to 7-0 in shootouts after getting goals from superstars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

The Red Wings were outshot 47-24 two days after Nashville outshot them 48-29. They have been outshot by an average margin of 37-30 in their past six games, which has Babcock concerned.

"Our execution and our speed and the way we're playing, I don't know if we look exhausted, but we're not emotionally very fresh,'' Babcock said. "And yet, we just played four games in 5 1/2 days. That's the way the NHL is this year (due to a slightly compressed schedule because of the Olympic break). And now we got a day to travel and play again back-to-back (Tuesday and Wednesday in San Jose and Anaheim).

"We got to find it within ourselves to have more emotion and more energy and to skate better. That's the only way we're going to come through this."

Players realize it takes time to get comfortable after returning from a long absence. That will be the case with defenseman Niklas Kronwall, who was fortunate to avoid re-injuring his left knee early in overtime Sunday while trying to check Jordan Staal, and with right wing Jason Williams.

"You're energized and get a good push in the first game and then it kind of hits you a little bit,'' Detroit captain Nicklas Lidstrom said. "That's been the case with a couple of guys coming back. It's not easy sitting out for a couple of months and being in game shape right away.''

Babcock said forward Tomas Holmstrom, who is tied for the team lead with 15 goals, will return Tuesday. He has missed 13 games with a broken foot. He said forward Johan Franzen, out since Oct. 8 because of a torn knee ligament, will return Feb. 9 at St. Louis.

In the meantime, the Red Wings can't afford to play like they did for most of Sunday's game against Pittsburgh. After his team was dominated territorially through two periods, outshot 29-11, Babcock split up stars Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg.

It provided a little spark, as Cleary tied the game by deflecting in a blast from the point by Stuart, who was given plenty of room to shoot.

"I got the puck and was going to shoot right away and didn't realize I had some time to let our guys get to the front,'' Stuart said. "Took a couple of steps and was able to get it through and I don't think (Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury) saw it.''

The Red Wings had an excellent chance to win it on a power play with 1:21 left in overtime but ended up going 0 for 5 on the man-advantage for the game.

In the shootout, Crosby and Malkin scored on nifty backhand shots while Datsyuk and Williams failed to score for Detroit.

Crosby opened the scoring at 16:46 of the second period. He went to the net with speed, took a pass from Alex Goligosky and tucked a backhand shot past Howard for his 34th goal.

The Red Wings happily took their point in the first of five consecutive road games, but they weren't pleased with their effort.

"We were on our heels a little bit too much. We gave them too much respect,'' Kronwall said. "I think we gave them too much space, way too much separation between our forwards and our D-men.''

Said Howard: "We got a point, so that's the positive side of it. But we got to find a way get W's out of these.''