Tatar scores twice, Howard wins in return to Red Wings
DETROIT -- Tomas Tatar scored twice and Jimmy Howard made 24 saves for the win in his first appearance of 2017, as the Detroit Red Wings downed the Chicago Blackhawks 4-2 Friday.
Tatar, who leads the Wings with 17 goals, scored the winner and added an insurance marker as Detroit halted a three-game losing streak and also put an end to Chicago's club-record road winning streak at eight games.
Tatar converted a feed from Henrik Zetterberg to close out the scoring at 15:31 of the third period.
Just 4:23 after the opening faceoff, Patrick Kane and Artemi Panarin combined on a sweet give-and-go en route to opening the scoring. Panarin rifled a one-timer from a Kane feed past Jimmy Howard on Chicago's first shot of the game.
Howard was seeing his first NHL action since sustaining a knee injury Dec. 20 at Tampa Bay.
Detroit tied it at 16:25 when Xavier Ouellet's high point shot got past Chicago goalie Corey Crawford on the stick side. It was Ouellet's first goal since Jan. 18.
The Red Wings grabbed the lead with just eight seconds to go in the opening period. Nick Jensen slid a pass across to Andreas Athanasiou, whose low blast eluded Crawford, who was screened Tatar.
With 4:43 left in the second period, the Red Wings upped their advantage to 3-1. Taking a drop pass from Gustav Nyquist, Henrik Zetterberg fired a shot that Crawford stopped. Situated on the edge of the goal crease, Tatar took two swings at the puck, swatting it into the net for his team-leading 16th goal of the season.
The Blackhawks narrowed the margin with 44.3 seconds left in the second period when Trevor Van Riemsdyk's low shot from just inside the blue line snuck under Howard's right pad.
NOTES: Stating he was unhappy with the consistency of RW Anthony Mantha, Detroit coach Blashill made the rookie, who is tied for second on the Wings with 14 goals, a healthy scratch. ... D Ryan Sproul (knee) was also scratched, while D Jonathan Ericsson (wrist) is on IRL . . . Chicago's Artem Anisimov (21.2 per cent) is second in the NHL in shooting percentage . . . Former Wings F Tomas Jurco made his first appearance at Joe Louis Arena since his Feb. 24 trade to Chicago . . . Chicago scratches were D Johnny Oduya, D Niklas Hjalmarsson, F Jordin Tootoo, F Dennis Rasmussen and G Scott Darling.