DETROIT -- The Detroit Red Wings played with urgency from the drop of the puck Thursday and maintained that desperation for 60 minutes as Henrik Zetterberg led the way with a determined effort.

, Zetterberg responded with one of his best performances of the season, contributing a goal and two assists in a 5-1 victory against the Minnesota Wild at Joe Louis Arena.

The three-point night was Zetterberg's second-most productive game of the season (he had five points against Anaheim on Nov. 14) and tied him with Pavel Datsyuk for the team lead with 56 points.

"You always want to contribute and help the team win,'' Zetterberg said. "I haven't really been doing that like I have the last few years. When you're going through a slump, you just have to keep going, shoot the puck a little more and work a little harder, do the little things right and, hopefully, it will turn.''

Johan Franzen scored two goals. The Red Wings were strong on special teams, getting a power-play goal from Tomas Holmstrom, a short-handed tally from Drew Miller and continuing their recent stretch of strong penalty killing (the Wild were 0-for-5 on the power play).

"Everyone's aware of the situation. We're fighting for a playoff spot, we don't have a lot of games left,'' Miller said. "We know we have to bring it every night. We can't just bring it for part of the game, we have to bring it for the whole 60.''

Zetterberg said he realizes he is one of the players who must lead the way in getting this team to the playoffs.

"I always put pressure on myself. I try not to care what other people are saying,'' Zetterberg said. "You just have to believe in yourself and keep going and do the best you can.''

Red Wings coach Mike Babcock tried to spark Zetterberg by moving fast-skating, playmaking third-line center Valtteri Filppula to his wing, opposite Dan Cleary.

"No one is challenging himself more than Z is,'' Babcock said. "These are proud guys. They know how good they're capable of being. He wants to be that good every night.

"We tried to give him as much help as we could tonight with linemates. Fil's a good passer, we just felt that might be a good situation for him. Good for him. He's got to feel good about himself, and that's real important.''

Said Zetterberg: "He's really skilled, offensively and defensively, he can make plays. It's fun to play with him. We'll see how long it lasts.''

The Red Wings raced out to a 3-0 lead in the first period, scoring on three of their first eight shots barely 10 minutes into the game.

Franzen ignited the rally with a blast from the top of the faceoff circle that bounced in off of goaltender Josh Harding's glove at 2:25.

Holmstrom scored his 19th goal at 9:19, taking a pass from Zetterberg just inside the blue line and firing a long shot that deflected in off the stick of defenseman Nick Schultz.

Zetterberg followed with his 19th goal at 10:15, converting a pass from behind the net by Patrick Eaves, who also spearheaded the team's penalty-killing efforts.

"This is the type of game where you can't just let them hang around, because they'll come back and hurt you,'' said Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard, who improved to 25-15-8. "We knew we had to get on them quick. And once we got them down, stay at it, keep going.''

The Wild cut the Red Wings' lead to 3-1 on Andrew Ebbett's goal with 11 seconds remaining in the first period -- a shot from a sharp angle that went in off Brad Stuart's skate.

Minnesota wasn't able to build off that momentum, however.

Miller made it 4-1 at 12:58 of the second period with his first career short-handed goal.

Filppula broke in alone after taking a pass from Miller. He skated past the front of the net, stopped and fired a close-range shot off Harding's chest. It bounced in off Miller, who crashed the net.

Franzen wrapped up the scoring with his seventh goal in 12 games this season, firing a wrist shot through Harding's five-hole at 14:43 of the third period.

"We've had some good games and haven't been able to put enough strings together,' Babcock said. "This is a challenge for us. We got to put a run together.''