Danny Cleary scores twice in Red Wings' loss

The Detroit Red Wings’ 4-3 loss to the San Jose Sharks Tuesday overshadowed another strong effort by Danny Cleary and outstanding showing from his line.
Cleary scored two goals, giving him a career-high 21 in just 46 games.
Jiri Hudler, who has rebounded nicely after a miserable start this season, assisted on both. Pavel Datsyuk didn’t record a point but continues to be the catalyst on that line and for the team since his return on Feb. 7 from a broken hand.
"They’ve been excellent," coach Mike Babcock said. "They’ve been working. Their legs are going and they’re competing hard. When you do that you have a chance to be successful.
"Huds made some plays for them. Cleary’s at the net all the time. They got it going, they were our best line by far tonight."
Cleary has five goals in his last six games and 10 points in his past eight games.
"He goes to the net. He goes to the hard areas and he goes for rebounds," Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom said. "He stops in front of the net to battle for the puck and that’s how he scored his goals tonight."
Cleary’s previous career-best was 20 goals -- in 2006-07 (71 games) and 2007-08 (63 games).
Cleary missed 14 games with a broken ankle this season, but otherwise has been much healthier than last year, when he was hampered by knee, groin and wrist issues.
"Playing with Pavel is a real treat," Cleary said. "He’s so talented and works everywhere on the ice. It seems to be going OK, for sure, Pavel’s obviously the catalyst."
Odds & ends
• Center Mike Modano remains on schedule to return from his lacerated wrist on Saturday."There’s still some nerve issue there that the total sensation isn’t back. That’s going to be a long time, but the strength is there," Modano said. "It feels good shooting. As far as getting involved in traffic and guys pushing on it, it feels good. It’s going to take time to get up and running, but 21 games from (Saturday) until the end, so there’s a lot of time left."
• Center Valtteri Filppula is scheduled to participate today in what he calls his first "real" practice since his knee injury on Feb. 7. He didn’t rule out playing Thursday against Dallas.
"Definitely felt really good today," Filppula said. "I’m really hoping Saturday for sure, but hopefully it’s good (today) and Thursday I’ll be ready."