Henrik Zetterberg scored the first of Detroit's three goals in the opening period and the Red Wings broke a franchise record with their 15th straight home victory, a 5-0 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Monday.
It is the longest single-season winning streak by an NHL team at home since 1976 when Philadelphia won 20 in a row to match a league mark set by Boston during the 1929-30 season, according to STATS, LLC.
The Red Wings won 14 straight at home in 1965.
Detroit's Jimmy Howard made 27 saves for his fifth shutout this season and NHL-high 27th victory.
The Sabres have lost a franchise-record nine straight road games in regulation.
Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller was pulled early in the second after giving up goals to Zetterberg, Johan Franzen, Nicklas Lidstrom, Todd Bertuzzi and Darren Helm.
Drew Miller made a cross-ice pass that left his brother, Ryan, out of position to stop Helm's shot and ended his night in front of family and friends. The Millers grew up in East Lansing, Mich., and played at Michigan State.
On Detroit's second shot, Zetterberg got the puck past Miller and ended his 13-game, goal-scoring drought.
Howard stopped a flurry of shots late in the opening period, including Drew Stafford's shot that went off his mask, and responded well to one of the rare offensive surges from Buffalo.
Howard was handed a three-goal cushion when Franzen and Lidstrom scored in a 1:32 span off assists from Datsyuk.
Early in the second, Datsyuk snatched the puck away from defenseman Mike Weber behind the net and got the puck to Bertuzzi, who had enough time in front of the net to do a spin move and shot the puck past Miller. Helm scored 13 second later to chase Miller, who gave up five goals on 14 shots, and put Jhnoas Enroth in net.
The Red Wings were able to coast to the lopsided win, improving to 18-2-1 at Joe Louis Arena, where they haven't lost since Nov. 3, 2011, when Calgary beat them 4-1.
Since Buffalo's last road win on Dec. 3, 2011, at Nashville, the Sabres are 5-10-4 overall and have slumped to a sub-.500 record overall. Buffalo has had 20 players miss games with injuries this season and just four players who started the season with the team have avoided being scratched because of an injury.
NOTES: Buffalo's longest road winless streak is a 23-game skid during the 1971-72 season. ... The Sabres will attempt to stop their losing streak on the road Wednesday night at Chicago in the third of a seven-game road trip. ... Datsyuk's third assist marked the 700th point of his career. ... The Red Wings, who are 11-13 on the road play at Dallas and Phoenix, before returning home to play Columbus on Saturday. ... Detroit beat Buffalo 4-1 in their previous game this season. ... Buffalo called up rookie defenseman TJ Brennan from the AHL's Rochester Americans for the fourth time this season on Monday because defenseman Robyn Regehr had an upper-body injury Saturday against the New York Islanders.
