Ted Kulfan
The Detroit News
Anaheim, Calif. -- The Red Wings won again, and this time give goalie Jimmy Howard plenty of the credit.
Howard was outstanding, and the Wings produced enough offense to defeat the Anaheim Ducks 4-0.
Howard made 41 saves for his second shutout of the season. He made several important stops early, some key ones in the second period to frustrate the Ducks, and gave the Wings an opportunity to gradually pull away.
With the victory, Howard tied Montreal's Carey Price with 15 wins, best in the league.
"For a goalie it's a lot easier, you get in there and get into a rhythm," said Howard, talking about the avalanche of shots he faced. "Sometimes we are so good at controlling the play, you become a spectator down at the other end, so you have to find a way to keep your mind in it. But when you are getting lots of work, it's easy to just stay in the game."
Johan Franzen, Tomas Holmstrom, Danny Cleary and Valtteri Filppula scored Wings goals.
The Wings (17-4-2, 36 points) finish this three-game California trip Saturday in Los Angeles.
The Wings have defeated Anaheim (13-12-3, 29 points) three consecutive times this season.
The Wings didn't play their best game, yet found a way to win, and this time they could thank Howard.
"Our goalie was real good," coach Mike Babcock said. "I didn't think we were nearly as good as we have been, yet we still did a lot of good things and scored good goals with some traffic in front.
"I didn't think we were as sound skating as we have been. You have to give them (the Ducks) some credit. They rolled around at times pretty good in our own zone."
Franzen got the Wings going with his 11th goal 1:09 into the game. He one-timed a puck off the boards past Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller.
"I didn't actually see the puck," Hiller said. "I tried to get back to the post and I couldn't see it. I thought (Franzen) was just going to throw it in front of the net."
Said Ducks coach Randy Carlyle : "We weren't able to find a way to score a goal. It seemed like they got the 1-0 lead early into the game, it set us back on our heels."Holmstrom scored his seventh and Cleary his team-leading 12th, 4:24 apart late in the second period.
"I tried to follow his (Holmstrom's) lead," Cleary said of his drive to the net. Both goals were scored from just in front of Hiller. "You have to keep going there. That's where the pucks are."Cleary said Howard was the obvious key to the victory.
"I didn't think we played that good at all, to be honest," Cleary said. "For sure he (Howard) was really good in the first and gave us a chance. We got some timely goals."
Dec. 4, 2010
