Red Wings 4, Predators 1
Valtteri Filppula scored twice and Jimmy Howard came within 2:12 of his fourth shutout of the season as the Detroit Red Wings posted a 4-1 road victory over the Nashville Predators on Monday.
Pavel Datsyuk and Dan Cleary also tallied for Detroit, which went 2-2-0 on its four-game road trip and has won 13 of 18 overall.
Filppula opened the scoring midway through the first period by beating Pekka Rinne from the slot for his 11th goal of the season. The Finn completed his second two-goal performance of the campaign - both against Nashville - when he buried a loose puck in the right faceoff circle less than 5 1/2 minutes into the third for a 4-0 advantage.
Howard turned aside the first 27 shots he faced before Nashville defenseman Jonathon Blum scored on a screen shot from the blue line late in the third. The netminder finished with 31 saves.
Rinne stopped 18 shots for the Predators, who had their five-game home winning streak snapped. Nashville had earned at least one point in each of its previous five home meetings (3-0-2) with Detroit.