Howard’s 47 saves not enough as Red Wings fall to Rangers 1-0

By Nick Barnowski – 

Both Jimmy Howard and Henrik Lundqvist stole the spotlight at Madison Square Garden, but it was the Swedish goalie’s team that came out on top on Thursday night.

Mats Zuccarello scored the only goal of the game with 5:58 left in the third period to propel the New York Rangers (25-21-3) to a 1-0 victory over the Detroit Red Wings.

The two teams combined for 86 shots in the game as both goalies proved why they were selected for the U.S. and Swedish Olympic teams. Howard made 47 saves on 48 shots while Lundqvist stopped all 38 Detroit shots for his third shutout of the season.

It was the second straight game in which the Red Wings (20-17-10) were shutout 1-0.

After making a number of incredible saves, the lone goal Howard surrendered came when Zuccarello attempted to make a cross-ice pass near the crease but the puck was deflected by Detroit defenseman Brian Lashoff into the net.

Both goalies were sharp in the opening frame when the two teams were on pace for over 90 shots on goal total. Howard stopped a Brad Richards shot from the slot early on in the game and right after denied Michael Del Zotto’s shot from the blueline.

One of Lundqvist’s best saves of the game came on Tomas Jurco, as the Ranger netminder slide across the crease to stop the Detroit forwards one-timer off a rebound from the right hand side of the slot.

Howard responded by making 18 saves in the second, including one on former Michigan Wolverine Carl Hagelin in front of the net. Hagelin had the puck on his stick with a wide-open net but Howard managed to kick his toe out at the last second and make the save.

Kyle Quincey stopped a shot from going in later on in the second period when Howard was out of the crease and Ryan Callahan’s shot got past him. Quincey was there with his stick in the crease to prevent it from going in the net.

An entertaining last few minutes of play saw Lundqvist peppered with Detroit shots but turned away all of them. The most spectacular one came against Gustav Nyquist with 44.5 seconds remaining. Nyquist’s shot hit the post and hit Lundqvist in the back but he was able to reach back and cover the puck before it crossed the goal line.

Detroit will return home for the first time in 2014 to take on the Los Angeles Kings at the Joe Louis Arena on Saturday night.