Red Wings defeat Canucks to snap winless skid

By Staci Burlingame –

With a 0-2-2 record in their last four games, the Red Wings knew they had some work to do coming into Wednesday night’s game at Rogers Arena in Vancouver.

Thanks to goals from Daniel Alfredsson and Tomas Tatar, the Wings recorded a much-needed 2-1 victory over the Canucks.

Detroit got points out of six different players- none of which were from the team’s leading point-getters; Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk.

Jimmy Howard stopped 19 of the 20 shots he faced in the win, while Roberto Luongo stopped 25 of 27.

The Sedin brothers struck first for Vancouver at 14:12 of the first period. Henrik Sedin put the Canucks on the board while his brother, Daniel, was rewarded with the assist.

The first period would end that way, with shots 12-7 in favor of Detroit.

Daniel Alfredsson found the back of the net for the Red Wings to tie it up at 10:05 of the second. A rebound off Luongo ended up on Alfredsson’s stick. With the help of a post and the back of Luongo’s left pad, Alfredsson collected his third goal of the season.

Tomas Tatar added the second goal of the period for the Wings at 18:52. Tatar’s first goal of the season, a wrist shot from just below the blue line, beat a screened Luongo and put them up 2-1. Kyle Quincey and Brendan Smith both collected assists on the goal. Smith’s assist was his first of the season.

Despite many third-period opportunities for both teams, the Red Wings would hold on to their lead. Jimmy Howard made 19 saves and collected the victory for Detroit.

Patrick Eaves made his regular season debut with Detroit on Wednesday after being injured in the pre-season. He played on the fourth line with Drew Miller and Luke Glendening. He recorded 7:23 worth of ice-time and was minus-1.

Detroit will look to stay on the winning-side of things when they take on the Flames Friday night in Calgary.