Red Wings' Howard Drops Rangers 3-1

Detroit Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard out duelled Henrik Lundqvist as the Wings dumped the New York Rangers 3-1 on the road. Howard stopped 28 of 29 Ranger shots, including a penalty shot to beat the more experienced Lundqvist stopped 28 of the 31 shots he faced. Lundqvist was excellent, especially in the first period when the Red Wings were pressing.

The Rangers got the first goal, as New York's Brian Boyle tipped a shot over Howard's shoulder from a pass by Chris Higgins at 15:56 of the 1st period. Right winger Ryan Callahan got a breakaway but was hauled down by Jonathan Ericsson as he raced to Howard's goal, which resulted in a penalty shot. Callahan swooped in on Howard with a leg fake, a deke and then tried to stuff it in, but Howard got his left pad on the shot. Big time save as the Rangers would have gone up 2-0 at this point if Callahan had scored.

Pavel Datsyuk tapped in his 7th goal of the year 11:59 of the 2nd period as he drifted in from the side while Henrik Zetterberg was shooting and Datsyuk snapped up the rebound close to Lundqvist. Dan Cleary gave Detroit the lead late in the 3rd, on an odd shot that trickled through Lundqvist's pads. Zetterberg and defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom both got their second assists on the game winning goal. Right winger Kris Draper got an unassisted empty netter with 7 seconds left to seal the win for the Red Wings who won for only the third time in their last 8 games. The Rangers meanwhile have dropped 4 of their last 5 games.

Both teams are off until Wednesday when Detroit is home to face the St Louis Blues, and the Rangers head to Chicago.