Howard Earns First Playoff Shutout as Red Wings Tie Series with Coyotes

Detroit goaltender Jimmy Howard stopped 29 shots for his first career playoff shutout Tuesday night, leading the Red Wings to a 3-0 win over the Phoenix Coyotes.

Their Western Conference Quarterfinal matchup is now tied at two games apiece. Game Five will be in Glendale on Friday.

Henrik Zetterberg opened the game’s scoring with 4:27 left to play in the second period.

Zetterberg deflected a Niklas Kronwall shot from the blue line past Phoenix netminder Ilya Bryzgalov on the power play. After video review, it was determined that the deflection did not come off of a high stick.

After the Coyotes failed to tie the game on a long power play in the third, Pavel Datsyuk extended Detroit’s lead.

With 4:07 left in regulation, Datsyuk one-timed a pass from Johan Franzen at the bottom of the right faceoff circle over Bryzgalov’s glove hand.

Zetterberg added his second of the night just 25 seconds later, sneaking an acute-angle shot past Bryzgalov after Todd Bertuzzi beat out an icing call.

Bryzgalov finished the night with 32 saves on 35 Detroit shots.

The Red Wings were one-for-three on the power play while holding the Coyotes without a goal on five chances with the extra attacker, including 13 seconds of a two-man advantage.

---

The Coyotes were without captain Shane Doan, who was injured when he crashed into the boards on a play on in Sunday’s Game Three… Vernon Fiddler returned to the Phoenix lineup after missing Game Three.