DETROIT -- The San Jose Sharks got off to a good start on a long road trip.

Center Melker Karlsson, left winger Matt Nieto and center Joe Pavelski scored to give San Jose a 3-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Friday night at Joe Louis Arena.

It was the first game of a six-game road trip for San Jose. The Sharks play the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday.

"Just trying to focus and take one game at a time," said Sharks goalie Martin Jones, who had 26 saves. "I know it's a cliche, but on these long road trips, that's what we're trying to do."

San Jose had only 14 shots.

"We had some quality chances. Obviously, didn't get as many shots as we'd like. But we had quality chances," Sharks coach Pete DeBoer said.

Left winger Tomas Tatar and right winger Teemu Pulkkinen scored for Detroit. Goaltender Jimmy Howard had 11 saves.

"I thought we played pretty well until their third goal, and that really deflated us too much. You can't get that down in that situation," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "After that, we started trying to get cute instead of working for good shots. That's something I really hadn't seen this year until the second half of tonight's game."

Detroit center Pavel Datsyuk made his season debut. He was recovering from surgery on June 26 to repair ruptured tendons in his right ankle. He had four shots in 20:53 of ice time Friday.

"I had a couple good chances, but I would have liked to score one. That would have been huge for the team tonight," Datsyuk said. "It was fun to be back out there, but everyone was just flying by me in the first period. It got a little better every shift, and by the third I was moving OK. Maybe tomorrow they won't have to keep waiting for me to catch up to them."

Pulkkinen scored with 1:52 left and Howard pulled for the extra attacker to make it close. Pulkkinen's one-time slap shot from the top of the left circle deflected in off the skate of Sharks defenseman Justin Braun for his fifth goal of the season.

"We needed a win tonight. I thought we played a good road game," DeBoer said. "They outshot us, but we've been on the wrong side of a few of those at home. ... We kept their shots from the outside."

Howard stopped Sharks forward Patrick Marleau on a breakaway a minute into the third period.

Datsyuk hit the goal post 2:32 into the third period and Tatar hit the crossbar 6:12 into the third period.

"We did a good job in the third period," Jones said. "We didn't have a lot of time in the offensive zone, but we didn't give up a lot."

Tatar gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead 3:13 into the game. He beat Jones with a wrist shot from the right circle off the rush. It was Tatar's fourth goal of the season.

Karlsson tied it 7:41 into the first when he chipped a backhand shot past Howard for his first goal of the season.

"That first one can't go in. That's on me," Howard said.

Nieto made it 2-1 with 2:08 left in the first period when he put in his own rebound from near the bottom of the right circle. It was his third goal of the season.

Pavelski made it 3-1 with 9:37 left in the second period when he redirected defenseman Paul Martin's shot from the point past Howard. It was Pavelski's ninth goal of the season.

"I never saw that one," Howard said. "I had to look at the big screen to figure out what happened."

Jones stopped Datsyuk from in front with 1:42 left in the second period and denied Luke Glendening's backhand shot with 56 seconds remaining in the second period.

NOTES: San Jose coach Peter DeBoer will be an assistant coach for Team North America in the World Cup of Hockey, which will be played before the 2016-17 season. ... The Red Wings were without RW Johan Franzen (concussion), C Brad Richards (back), D (Kyle Quincey) and F Landon Ferraro (knee). ... Sharks F Patrick Marleau has been the subject of trade rumors. ... San Jose was missing C Logan Couture (broken leg).