DETROIT -- Not every player can go end-to-end and score in the NHL, and it is even more special when it turns out to be the game-winning goal.

Andreas Athanasiou took the puck in his own end and kept it all the way until he fired a shot over the glove of Marc-Andre Fleury.

The unassisted tally snapped a tie at 1:46 of the third period and proved to be the game-winner in the Detroit Red Wings' 6-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins at Joe Louis Arena on Saturday night.

"I picked up the puck and saw some open ice, so I just took the open ice and coming over the blue line I saw it was a one-on-one, made a move and it worked out," Athanasiou said.

Athanasiou has four goals in his past five games after getting benched for one game. The Saturday goal was his ninth of the season.

"The one thing Double-A has is he's got the ability to break people down and score goals on his own," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "Obviously he took it end to end and scored a goal on his own. It's hard to score goals in this league, and when you get somebody that can self-create and do it on his own, it's a big thing."

Pittsburgh defenseman David Warsofsky appeared to tie the game at 4 at 5:09, but the Red Wings challenged the tally, saying there was goaltender interference.

After a review, the referees agreed, and the goal was waved off.

"I was surprised because I didn't think I pushed him," Penguins center Evgeni Malkin said. "I was trying to get to the front and tip the shot, but right now, they want to protect the goaltenders."

Defenseman Mike Green scored with two seconds left on a power play at 11:51 for Detroit's fifth goal. Henrik Zetterberg capped the third-period outburst at 13:14.

"The puck went in," Zetterberg said, "but we can't we can't get ahead of ourselves either. It was one game. It was two points. We've got to do it again Monday. So we're happy that we won, but we've got to get back to work tomorrow and keep doing it."

Defenseman Kris Letang gave the Penguins the early lead, scoring from the point just 27 seconds into the first period. Letang has a five-game point streak against the Red Wings, with four goals and four assists in that span.

Then at 3:21 of the first period, Letang got tangled up with Red Wings forward Thomas Vanek in the Penguins' end and left the game, appearing to favor his left leg.

Letang returned to the bench at 11:30 and skated during a timeout. He took a shift at 12:30 but then immediately went back to the dressing room.

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan did not have an update on Letang's status after the game.

The Penguins made it 2-0 at 3:51 of the second period when Carl Hagelin found Malkin in front and Malkin beat goaltender Jared Coreau five-hole.

The Red Wings cut the Penguins' lead to 2-1 at 9:01 of the second period when Gustav Nyquist beat Fleury with a shot to the top left corner.

Detroit tied the score at 13:28 of the second period when Vanek went to the net as Fleury was scrambling to get back and scored his 11th goal of the season. Vanek is tied for the team lead in goals with Anthony Mantha and Dylan Larkin.

The Penguins capitalized on a power play, getting Matt Cullen's unassisted goal at 17:56 for a 3-2 lead.

The second period ended in a 3-3 tie. Green found Frans Nielsen at the left side of the net, and Nielsen scored his ninth goal of the season with 53.1 seconds left.

"I don't think we played the right way all night," Sullivan said. "We're trying to outscore teams instead of outplaying them, and that's a problem. If we're not committed to playing away from the puck, we're ordinary."

The Penguins lost their third game in a row.

Fleury and Coreau each finished with 28 saves.

NOTES: Red Wings G Jared Coreau made his seventh career start but first in the regular season at Joe Louis Arena. The Red Wings came into the night with 178 man-games lost to injury compared with 85 for the Penguins. ... The Penguins made their last regular-season visit to Joe Louis Arena. There are three Michigan natives on the Penguins roster: D Ian Cole, D Steve Oleksy and F Bryan Rust. Pittsburgh F Carl Hagelin played at the University of Michigan. ... The Penguins had won four straight games against the Red Wings, tying the longest streak in the history of the series (Feb. 13, 1974-Dec. 15, 1974). ... The Red Wings had three healthy scratches: D Ryan Sproul, F Steve Ott and F Tomas Jurco. The Penguins had two healthy scratches: Oleksy and F Eric Fehr.