DETROIT -- Goaltender Jimmy Howard began the season as the Detroit Red Wings' backup but he certainly is not playing that way.

Howard made 36 saves and Detroit defeated the Vancouver Canucks 3-1 Thursday night at Joe Louis Arena.

"Howard saves us again." Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg said. "I thought we had a good start, got the goal early but then we started to play a little too cute, let them back in the game. A little bit too stubborn with turnovers again. You can't do that against this team."

It was Howard's third consecutive start and he improved his goals-against average to 1.22 and his save percentage to .961. Howard has s 4-2-0 record in seven games.

"When I get in there. I just want to give the team a chance to win," Howard said.

Dylan Larkin, defenseman Brendan Smith and Steve Ott scored for Detroit (8-6-1). Zetterberg -- who was matched against fellow Swede Henrik Sedin, who is the Canucks captain, for most of the game -- had two assists.

"We came out good. I thought through large stretches of the game we weren't good enough," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "I think we're going to have to be better. Now with that said, they do a good job."

Daniel Sedin scored for Vancouver (5-9-1), which is also 1-9-1 in its last 11. Ryan Miller made 24 saves.

Miller made a spectacular diving save after he began to leave the net for the extra attacker. But Zetterberg got a hold of the puck in the neutral zone and lobbed a shot at the almost-empty net but Miller made a glove save while diving to his right.

"We played pretty well tonight, but it is the same story again," Canucks coach Willie Desjardins said. "We're getting good chances and nothing is going in."

Daniel Sedin put Vancouver on the scoreboard to make it 2-1 3:14 into the third period. He finished off a pretty back-and-forth passing play with his twin brother Henrik by beating Howard with a shot from the bottom of the left circle. It was Daniel Sedin's fifth goal.

The Sedins were not matched against Zetterberg's line for the goal.

"We're playing our system and we're creating chances. We just can't get anything to go in," Daniel Sedin said. "We have to figure this out, because we can't keep saying this every night. We're playing well enough to win games, but we need to put the puck in the net."

Ott's first goal as a Red Wing restored Detroit's two-goal lead with 4:46 left. He tipped in defenseman Jonathan Ericsson's shot from the left point.

Detroit led 2-0 after the first period.

Larkin opened the scoring just 32 seconds into the game when he put in the rebound of Zetterberg's shot. It was Larkin's team-leading fifth goal.

Smith made it 2-0 with 1:47 left in the opening period. His slap shot from the point in the middle of the ice trickled through Miller for Smith's second goal.

"Anytime you go up by a couple goals, having an insurance goal like that helps," Smith said. "I think there were things that we had at that time to continue to do better at is get pucks deep. I think we kind of took our foot off the gas a little bit and then we got back to it."

Red Wings left winger Andreas Athanasiou left the game after the first period with a lower-body injury after taking a hit from Canucks defenseman Nikita Tryamkin.

Athanasiou is tied for second on Detroit with four goals.

Blashill did not have an update on Athanasiou after the game.

NOTES: Detroit G Jimmy Howard, who started the season as the backup goaltender to Petr Mrazek, made his third consecutive start. He has a 1.26 goals-against average, .958 save percentage and is 3-2. ... Vancouver sent F Jake Virtanen to their American Hockey League affiliate, the Utica Comets,?on Wednesday. Virtanen has an assist in 10 games. ... The Red Wings' healthy scratches were D Xavier Ouellet, D Ryan Sproul and LA Drew Miller, who is the brother of Vancouver G Ryan Miller. ... The Canucks' scratches were D Alex Biega and D Philip Larsen. ... This is Vancouver's last trip to Joe Louis Arena. Detroit moves to a new home, Little Caesars Arena, next season.