Red Wings Reach All-Star Break with Win over Devils

The Detroit Red Wings defeated the New Jersey Devils 3-1 Wednesday night, wrapping up their January schedule as the NHL heads into the All-Star break.

Darren Helm opened the game’s scoring just 1:43 into the first period, picking off a pass from Mark Fraser at the New Jersey blue line and skating in all alone on Martin Brodeur, beating him over the shoulder.

Brian Rolston tied things up at 6:35 of the period, banging home the rebound of an Anton Volchenkov shot after Detroit netminder Jimmy Howard bobbled it.

Valtteri Filppula put the Red Wings back in front at 5:32 of the third period, taking a cross-ice feed from Jiri Hudler and snapping a shot past Brodeur from the left faceoff circle.

Ilya Kovalchuk appeared to tie the game late in the third but the referee ruled he had pushed Howard into the net with the puck. Replay would show this was not the case but the call on the ice stood as it was not reviewable.

Johan Franzen finished off the game’s scoring with 44 seconds left in the game, snapping a shot from the high slot past Brodeur on a rush into the zone.

Neither team scored a power play goal on the night. Each team had three tries with the extra attacker, though all of Detroit’s came on a double-minor and an overlapping penalty for a long five-on-three.

Howard stopped 23 of the 24 shots he faced. Brodeur made 26 saves on 29 shots against.

The Red Wings are off until next Wednesday when they visit the Ottawa Senators.

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Detroit captain Nicklas Lidstrom is the only Red Wing going to the All-Star Game. He will captain one of teams there… The Red Wings expect Pavel Datsyuk and Danny Cleary to return from injury in Ottawa. Tomas Holmstrom is expected to return shortly after.