Howard backstops Red Wings to win vs. Rangers
NEW YORK -- Goaltender Jimmy Howard made 32 saves as the Detroit Red Wings emerged with a 2-1 victory against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night.
The Rangers grabbed the lead 69 seconds into the contest and overwhelmed the Red Wings for long stretches, but Howard was there to stop multiple breakaways and give his team time to mount a comeback.
Left winger Thomas Vanek scored a power-play goal in the second period and left winger Drew Miller scored the winner early in the third period after Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist fumbled the puck behind his own net.
Center Mika Zibanejad scored for the Rangers. Lundqvist stopped 16 shots.
The Rangers dominated the first two periods with a 27-14 shot advantage, although each team could only muster one goal through 40 minutes.
Zibanejad scored his second of the season 1:09 into the contest with a nice deflection of a point shot by defenseman Ryan McDonagh. Zibanejad was uncovered when he got a stick on the puck, leaving Howard with zero chance to make the save.
Vanek answered with a redirection of his own at 6:15 of the second period. With the Red Wings on a power play, center Frans Nielsen fired a hard pass toward Vanek, who angled his stick perfectly from the slot to beat Lundqvist and tie the score at 1.
Prior to the Vanek goal, Howard stopped three scoring chances -- including two breakaways -- to keep the Red Wings within one goal.
Miller's goal 59 seconds into third period was tapped into an empty net, as Lundqvist lost the puck behind the net to right winger Luke Glendening, who fed Miller alone in the crease for the easy goal.
Right winger Jesper Fast momentarily appeared to the tie the game with less than four minutes to play, but he deflected the puck well above his shoulders, resulting in the goal being immediately waved off.
NOTES: Red Wings D Niklas Kronwall (knee) and LW Tomas Jurco (back) did not play. ... Detroit C Steve Ott was a healthy scratch for a third straight game. ... Rangers D Kevin Klein made his season debut after missing the team's first three games with back spasms. He took the place of D Dylan McIlrath, who was a healthy scratch. ... Rangers D Dan Girardi (hip flexor) and LW Pavel Buchnevich (back spasms) did not play. Girardi is expected to skate on his own Thursday.