CALGARY, Alberta -- Two teams battling for one of the final playoff spots in the Western Conference hooked up Monday night in a game that had postseason-like intensity and drama.

It was a tight, hard-fought game from start to finish and appeared headed to overtime until Tomas Holmstrom scored with 1:19 remaining in the third period, lifting the Detroit Red Wings to a 2-1 victory over the Calgary Flames at the Saddledome.

The Red Wings’ third consecutive win -- their longest streak since they won four in a row from Dec. 11-17 -- moved them three points ahead of the ninth-place Flames.

“If we play good, we’re going to get into the playoffs,’’ Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. “What I like is we’ve won seven of our last nine and it looks like we’re going in the right direction.’’

Holmstrom was in front of the net when he tipped Johan Franzen’s slap shot from the point past goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff. It was Holmstrom’s 20th goal of the season.

“The puck went up to the blue line. Mule (Franzen) was twisting and turning and I was hanging around the net,’’ Holmstrom said. “Mule knew I was around the net so he just got it there and I got lucky this time.

“We really need to get this win.’’

Franzen, who also assisted on Pavel Datsyuk’s second-period power-play goal, said, “I was tired, I was standing still there, but the D (Robyn Regehr) kept his distance a little bit so I had time to get a shot off. Homer was in front of the net as usual. If you just put it somewhere around there he usually gets on them.’’

The clubs split their season series 2-2, with the road team winning every game. Both teams have 13 games remaining, but Calgary has the more daunting schedule, with eight road games.

“It’s a 1-1 game, you get scored on in the last two minutes. That can’t happen,’’ Flames coach Brent Sutter said. “We got to be better than that in our own zone.’’

Special teams again were huge for the Red Wings, who killed Brian Rafalski’s double-minor penalty for high-sticking early in the third period. The Red Wings have killed 46-of-49 shorthanded situations (93.9 percent) in their past 16 games.

“Our penalty-kill on that four minute power play didn’t give them a sniff,’’ Babcock said.

“We did a great job getting back, breaking up their opportunities,’’ Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard said. “We did a good job covering the points. They like to work it down low and then throw it up high and hammer it to the net. The guys did a good job getting into the lanes and blocking shots. Made my life easier.’’

The action heated up in the final 2 minutes of the second period.

An interference penalty to Steve Staios at 17:54 gave Detroit its first power play of the game. But Curtis Glencross was awarded a penalty shot after getting hooked on a breakaway by Henrik Zetterberg, who coughed up the puck at his own blue line.

Howard made a blocker save on Glencross on the penalty shot. The Red Wings’ power play resumed, and Datsyuk whipped a wrist shot from the slot into the top corner of the net. Kiprusoff was screened by Holmstrom. It was Datsyuk’s team-leading 22nd goal, his fifth in the last six games.

“I don’t mind the penalty shot because we still would have remained on the power play, and we were able to get a goal,’’ Howard said.

As for Glencross’ decision to start deep in his own end to build up speed, Howard said, “It’s a

lot easier for a goalie when a guy’s coming in that quick. Just something clicked in my mind that he’s shooting blocker, so I really protected that side.’’

The Red Wings have scored at least one power-play goal in a season-high 10 consecutive games.

The Red Wings had several quality scoring chances in the first period but trailed 1-0 at the intermission on Craig Conroy’s goal at 1:47. Andreas Lilja’s turnover led to the goal, as he misfired on an attempted outlet pass to Darren Helm. Conroy pounced on the puck and eventually tucked it into the open side.

“We had lots of opportunities. I would have liked to execute a few times a little better, but that’s life,’’ Babcock said. “I thought we had a real good game out of (Drew) Miller, (Jason) Williams and (Todd) Bertuzzi. They were really good.’’

It was the start of a three-game Western Canada trip that includes an unusual three-day break. The Red Wings will spend it in the resort town of Kelowna, British Columbia, where they will practice Wednesday and Thursday before heading to Edmonton to face the Oilers on Friday.