Edmonton, AB (Sports Network) – Jimmy Howard turned aside 29 shots to help the Detroit Red Wings take a 3-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers at Rexall Place.
Daniel Cleary had a goal and two assists, while Justin Abdelkader and Valtteri Filppula each lit the lamp for the Red Wings, who have won three straight and six of seven.
Taylor Hall notched the lone goal for the Oilers, who have lost eight of their last nine games after opening the season with two straight wins. Nikolai Khabibulin stopped 27-of-29 shots in the loss.
The first goal came 1:45 into the contest on a 2-on-1 break. Mike Modano skated down the right wing and fired a shot on net that Khabibulin stopped, but the rebound kicked out front and Abdelkader was there to bang it in.
At the 5:26 mark of the second the Oilers tied the game on Hall’s power-play marker, his third of the season.
The Red Wings, though, took the lead back just over three minutes later with a power-play goal. Nicklas Lidstrom sent a pass from the left circle to the front of the net where Cleary quickly backhanded the puck over to the right side, and Filppula wristed it home.
Howard stopped 14 shots in the third, and Cleary sealed the win with an empty- netter in the final minute.
Detroit wraps up its three-game road trip in Vancouver on Saturday…Edmonton begins a five-game road trip in Chicago on Sunday…The Oilers took three of four from Detroit last season…Detroit’s Pavel Datsyuk had an assist in the game and he now has a seven-game point streak. He has totaled four goals and six assists during that time…Howard hasn’t lost a game in regulation in 22 consecutive starts…Lidstrom also has a seven-game point streak and he has one goal and nine assists during the run.