THE CANADIAN PRESS

VANCOUVER -- Henrik Zetterberg scored in the last second of overtime Saturday as the Detroit Red Wings improved their playoff chances with a 4-3 victory over the Vancouver Canucks.

On the winner, Zetterberg recovered the puck deep in the Vancouver zone, outmuscled Canucks defender Alex Edler, and whipped a backhand past goalie Roberto Luongo's blocker for his 20th goal of the season.

Luongo was strong in defeat, turning aside 50 shots.

Daniel Sedin had tied the game early in the third period after the Red Wings scored three in the second, including a short-handed goal by Valtteri Filppula.

Sedin gloved down a deflected Kevin Bieksa shot at the side of the net and beat Detroit netminder Jimmy Howard.

Filppula snapped a 2-2 tie in the second after Todd Bertuzzi and Pavel Datsyuk shocked the Canucks with goals five seconds apart earlier in the period.

Filppula beat Luongo to give Detroit its first lead on a breakaway with a backhander after Edler mishandled the puck and then fell at the Detroit blue-line.

Kyle Wellwood and Shane O'Brien gave the Canucks a 2-0 lead in the first period.

The win moved the streaking Wings two points ahead of the idle Calgary Flames in the battle for the final Western Conference playoff berth.

Detroit is 6-1-1 in its last eight games and improved to 35-23-13 overall with the victory.

The Canucks ended a five-game homestand with their second loss in three games and slipped to 44-25-3.

Vancouver is still five points clear of idle second-place Colorado in the chase for first in the Northwest Division. The Avalanche have two games in hand.

Vancouver scored in the first period by getting point shots through traffic in front of Howard, who made his 18th consecutive start.

Wellwood deflected Christian Ehrhoff's blast at 4:10 of the first after Luongo made several key saves during a Canuck penalty kill.

The Vancouver goalie was positionally perfect, cutting down the angles, as the Wings outshot the Canucks 17-8 in the opening 20 minutes.

O'Brien, playing his second game after three as a healthy scratch, scored his first goal in 33 games and second of the season on a high wrist shot.

The Wings continued to press in the second period and were rewarded with goals by Bertuzzi and Datsyuk five seconds apart, a Canuck record for fastest two goals against.

Bertuzzi started the comeback on a tap-in play where Luongo lost his stick and Bieksa couldn't find the puck in his skates.

Datsyuk took the puck from the ensuing faceoff, skated over the Canuck blue-line and beat Luongo with a long wrist shot.

NOTES: It was the final regular-season meeting between the two clubs. ... Detroit won the first two and the Canucks prevailed 6-3 on March 3 at Joe Louis Arena. ... Vancouver plays in Edmonton on Tuesday then faces Anaheim at home on Wednesday. ... Detroit draft picks Gustav Nyqvist and Brendan Smith of Wisconsin are finalists for the Hobey Baker award honouring the top player in U.S. collegiate hockey.