Postgame: Blues @ Red Wings – 12/31

Tonight was the best the Red Wings have played against St. Louis this season and it showed on the scoreboard.

It was the first time in four meetings that Detroit didn’t get bottled up along the boards by the Blues’ puck-pressure. Instead, the Wings had chances from the slot area and were able to get to the net.

Of course, the offense was helped by Jimmy Howard’s stellar goaltending, yet again. In this twelve game home winning streak, he has three shutouts and a GAA well under 2.00.

As I mentioned on Twitter immediately after the game, it’s great to see Justin Abdelkader come back from the quiet room to score a goal and be named the game’s second star. The hit was ugly, though definitely not the worst we’ve seen (helped by the fact that there was no injury). You have to think there will be supplemental discipline but we’ll see.