Zetterberg’s shootout goal leads Wings to win

By Matt Mackinder –

DETROIT – Phoenix goaltender Mike Smith was the star of Thursday night’s game against the Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena.

With a 40-save performance, Smith kept the Coyotes in the game, even in overtime and the shootout.

But Detroit, in just its second shootout of the season, spoiled Smith’s outing with a 3-2 win after Henrik Zetterberg used a nifty move to beat Smith and then Jimmy Howard stopped Lauri Korpikoski to record the win for the Red Wings.

The win was already Howard’s 100th in the NHL, but after the game, he was more inclined to talk about the Wings getting an important two points atop the crowded Western Conference standings.

“It doesn’t get much better than this,” said Howard, who earlier in the day was also named to his first All-Star team. “It was a great win and it was a great battle out there. We need the points right now and it was great to get the extra one tonight. Shootouts are always fun and I had a lot of fun out there.”

On his shootout winner, Zetterberg came in on Smith, threw a couple dekes, and went to his left while keeping his right hand on the stick and poking the puck past the goaltender.

“I think I had the advantage just to see the other players go and take shots before me,” Zetterberg said. “When I saw how (Smith) followed (Valtteri Filppula) and stopped him, I was about 70 percent sure I’d go with that move, but I wasn’t really sure until I crossed the blue line.”

Radim Vrbata started the scoring in the first period when he went around Zetterberg and used Ian White as a screen to beat Howard far-side at 9:41.

At 19:09, Filppula skated between the circles and snapped a laser beam over Smith’s left shoulder to knot the game at 1-all going into the second period.

“Our guys did a lot of good things today,” Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. “We played well defensively and real good for Howie. He played real well. He spent a lot of time in the minors and has earned his spot here. He didn’t want to lose (tonight) and was making all the saves. He played really hard and really held his ground in the shootout.”

Early in the second, Cory Emmerton almost untied the game while falling to the ice and taking a swipe at puck, only to hit the post to Smith’s left.

Howard (25 saves) then stopped Phoenix captain Shane Doan on a 2-on-1 late in the second and then with just under a minute left, Smith stopped Danny Cleary on the doorstep.

The Coyotes took the lead at 3:02 of the third. Kyle Chipchura got inside on Emmerton and broke in with a shot on Howard from the right-wing side. Howard stopped it, but the puck was loose in front and Taylor Pyatt got a stick on it and fluttered it over Howard.

“I was going to cover it and the next thing I know, it’s going over top of me,” said Howard. “It just shows that you can’t quit until you hear the whistle.”

Johan Franzen replied at 10:03 on a pretty pass from Pavel Datsyuk. Cleary corralled the puck behind net and fed Datsyuk at the right point. Datsyuk wasted little time in threading a pass through two Phoenix defenders to Franzen, who was crashing net to right of Smith for the easy re-direct.

Cleary earned his 200th career assist on the play.

Looking ahead, Howard knows it’s Chicago coming to town Saturday afternoon.

“The Central is very tight right now with us, St. Louis and Chicago,” noted Howard. “Points are at a premium and every single night, we have to find a way to get the two points.”

GAME NOTES: Jan Mursak was recalled from Grand Rapids prior to the game and was in the starting lineup playing on a line with Drew Miller and Darren Helm. In six games with the Griffins, Mursak had one assist and two penalty minutes on an injury rehab (ankle) assignment … Todd Bertuzzi took the pre-game warmup, but was scratched just prior to game time with what the team called a lower-body injury … Defenseman Mike Commodore was also scratched for Detroit … Phoenix was without a shot on goal until just over nine minutes had elapsed in the first period …Cleary bobbleheads were handed out to the first 7,500 fans … The game’s first penalty wasn’t called until the Coyotes’ Ray Whitney went off for tripping at 4:46 of the second period … The 50/50 raffle winner took home $3,665 … Phoenix forward Gilbert Brule made his Coyotes’ debut after being claimed off waivers from Edmonton on Wednesday … The three stars were Zetterberg, Datsyuk and Smith.