Howard’s 36 saves lead Red Wings past Canucks 3-1
DETROIT — Jimmy Howard certainly isn’t playing like a backup goalie.
Howard stopped 36 shots and the Detroit Red Wings beat the skidding Vancouver Canucks 3-1 on Thursday night.
“Howard saves us again. Goaltending,” Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg said. “I thought we had a good start, got the goal early but then we started to play a little too cute, let them back in the game. A little bit too stubborn with turnovers again. You can’t do that against this team.”
After opening the season as the No. 2 man in net behind Petr Mrazek, Howard made his third consecutive start. He improved his goals-against average to 1.22 and his save percentage to .961.