Howard Stops 24 as Red Wings Blank Oilers

Detroit goaltender Jimmy Howard stopped all 24 shots he faced Friday night, leading the Red Wings to a 3-0 win over the Edmonton Oilers to stretch the team’s winning streak to three games.

Howard outdueled Edmonton goalie Nikolai Khabibulin, who carried a goals against average of 0.98 into the game. Khabibulin stopped 27 of the Red Wings’ 30 shots.

Drew Miller was the first to beat Khabibulin with 9:25 left in the first period. Patrick Eaves threw a shot towards the goal and the puck deflected off the skate of defenseman Tom Gilbert to Miller in the slot. Miller swatted it back past Khabibulin to get Detroit on the board.

It was 2-0 just 2:05 into the second period when a Niklas Kronwall blast beat Khabibulin top shelf from high between the faceoff circles.

Valtteri Filppula finished off the scoring with 5:08 left in regulation, tipping the puck past Khabibulin on a two-on-one with Henrik Zetterberg.

The Red Wings did not score a power play goal on the night. They had six tries with the power play to Edmonton’s three.

The Wings are back in action on Saturday when they host the Dallas Stars in the final game of their six-game homestand.

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Justin Abdelkader fought Lennart Petrell early in the second period… Todd Bertuzzi sat out his third consecutive game with a head injury… Fabian Brunnstrom and Mike Commodore were healthy scratches.