Howard, Gustavsson record first combined shutout for Wings since 2001

By Stefan Kubus –

DETROIT – Jimmy Howard and Jonas Gustavsson combined for a feat Monday night that hasn’t been seen since Dominik Hasek and Manny Legace defended the Red Wings’ crease.

A 2-0 shutout win over Vancouver at Joe Louis Arena gave the Red Wings goaltenders the team’s first combined shutout effort since Hasek and Legace did so in a 1-0 win against Nashville on Oct. 27, 2001. Muskegon native Justin Abdelkader scored both goals for Detroit, the latter an empty netter.

“Anytime you’re struggling to score goals, you’ve got to keep goals out of your net to stay in games,” Abdelkader said. “Going forward, we’ve just got to play solid defensively. Obviously, Jimmy and Monster played a good game for us and made saves when they had to.”

Howard replaced Gustavsson to start the second period after it was announced The Monster “experienced dizziness” and stayed in the locker room. Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock said after the game that Gustavsson is “fine” and remained out just as a precaution.

Just 4:41 into the second period, Jakub Kindl hooked David Booth on a breakaway to give the Detroit native a penalty shot. Howard stopped Booth and then, minutes later, was run into hard by Vancouver defenseman Alex Edler crashing the net on the back door.

“Nothing like a penalty shot and then just getting run over to get yourself into the game,” Howard said. “It was a huge two points for us and we’ve just got to keep this rolling into the Olympic break.”

Gustavsson made eight saves in the first period, and Howard picked up the load in the second and third periods to turn away 16 shots.

Early in the second frame, Abdelkader – a former Mr. Hockey winner with Muskegon Mona Shores in high school – turned and fired a shot that ricocheted high off the left post and in. Gustav Nyquist drew an assist to give him four goals and two assists in his last three games.

“I knew I wanted to try to get it off quick and there was a screen in front, the goalie didn’t really see it and I knew I had to get it up a little bit,” Abdelkader said. “I just tried to funnel that thing on net and was fortunate enough for it to go in.”

At 11:18 of the middle frame, Vancouver’s Zack Kassian and Jason Garrison each took two-minute minors to set Detroit up with a rare, two-minute 5-on-3 opportunity. Nyquist had several scoring chances – including one that hit the post – but could not beat Vancouver netminder Eddie Lack.

On the contrary, a too-many-men penalty late in the third period gave Vancouver a tremendous opportunity to tie things up, but Detroit managed to kill it off.

With 15 seconds to play in regulation, Abdelkader shot for the empty net, missed, but deposited the rebound into the empty net for his second of the game and eighth of the season to seal the 2-0 victory.

The Red Wings head out on the road to face Florida on Thursday and neighboring Tampa on Saturday before beginning the Olympic break.

“The game in Washington was up and down, a lot of defensive mistakes, some turnovers and a lot of goals, but that’s not our MO going forward here,” Abdelkader said. “With our group and the young guys we have in this room, we have to be good defensively, limit the opposition’s chances for and try to limit our turnovers because we’ve been a team that, for the most part, has been struggling to score goals for most of the year.”