VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Tomas Tatar wasn't thinking about milestones, just the victory.

Tatar scored with 74 seconds left in regulation to break a tie and give the Detroit Red Wings a 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Monday night.

The goal was the 200th point of Tatar's five-year NHL career.

"I just tried to get it out of my mind, trying to play simple," he said. "Obviously in a big win, that feels pretty good."

The winning play started with a faceoff in the Canucks' end. Detroit's Justin Abdelkader passed the puck to Tatar, who beat Vancouver goaltender Jacob Markstrom on the glove side.

The goal, the first point in eight games for Tatar, appeared to deflect off the stick of Vancouver defenseman Ben Hutton.

"When goals aren't going in, you just need a fortunate bounce sometimes," said Tatar, a 26-year-old Slovakian. "I'm really glad it happened."

Detroit coach Jeff Blashill hopes this is the beginning of a streak for Tatar.

"He's had chances and hasn't scored," Blashill said. "He's that kind of player. He's a streaky player, and it seems like when they go in, they go in in bunches, so I am hoping they start to go in in tons."

Darren Helm and Martin Frk also scored for Detroit, which led 2-0 after 40 minutes.

Daniel Sedin and Michael Del Zotto scored goals 2:14 apart for the Canucks (7-5-2) in the third period to tie the game.

Blashill was happy with the Red Wings' response after Vancouver leveled the score. Detroit (8-7-1) had seven of the next eight shots, including the go-ahead goal.

"I thought we were great after they made it 2-2, to be honest with you," Blashill said. "I thought it was some of our better hockey.

"It's weird because they got two goals, but we came out and played real well."

Tatar said the Red Wings didn't panic.

"When you have a two-goal lead. you are trying to sit back, play careful," he said. "They eventually tied it up, but we just started playing again, started buzzing. We played a real good 10 minutes."

The Red Wings are 4-1-0 in their past five games after going through a six-game losing streak (0-5-1).

"We're just playing really good structure," Tatar said. "Everybody is on the same page and we trust each other. We are just playing good hockey, and we should stick with that."

Detroit also improved its road record to 6-5-0.

"We're doing a good job on the road of keeping it simple," said Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard, who made 26 saves. "When we get our opportunities, we are burying them.

"Over the last four games, we paid a lot better attention to detail."

Detroit is also 11-2-3 in its past 16 games against Vancouver.

The Canucks believed they deserved a better fate.

"Any time you come back from a two-goal deficit to tie a game with under five minutes left, it's disheartening we didn't get a point," Vancouver coach Travis Green said.

Hutton said the Canucks didn't quit when they were down.

"It hurts," he said. "We showed good character coming back from being down two.

"We have to put it behind us. They had good speed for sure, but we need to sharpen up a little bit."

Del Zotto's goal was his first as a Canuck since signing as a free agent this summer.

"It's nice to get that first one," he said. "It came at a good time.

"I've been getting my chances, so I've been trying to stay positive and hope one goes in. Hopefully I can get a couple more."

Markstrom, making his fourth consecutive start, made 26 saves.

Frk's second-period goal came on a strange play.

With Detroit on a power play, Frk took a shot from the point through traffic. Markstrom made the stop, but Canucks defenseman Chris Tanev directed the rebound into his own net. It appeared Detroit's Anthony Mantha bumped Tanev's stick when Tanev was trying to clear the puck.

The Canucks challenged the play, arguing there should be goaltender inference on Henrik Zetterberg, but the goal stood after a replay.

NOTES: C Brendan Gaunce was a healthy scratch after the Canucks recalled him from Utica of the AHL following a two-week conditioning stint. He is back after shoulder surgery. ... RW Jayson Megna was returned to Utica. ... With G Anders Nilsson's fiancee expecting a baby, G Thatcher Demko dressed as the backup. ... Vancouver D Patrick Wiercioch was a healthy scratch. ... Vancouver won 4-1 when the teams met Oct. 22 in Detroit. ... The Red Wings had nine shots in the first 11:33 of the first period then just two for the remaining 8:27. ... RW Gustav Nyquist played despite sustaining a knee injury in Detroit's 4-0 win over Edmonton on Sunday.... The Red Wings' heathy scratches were LW David Booth and RW Luke Witkowski.