Jimmy Howard continued to add to his already impressive young resume on Tuesday, recording his first career playoff shutout, making 29 saves to power the Red Wings to a crucial 3-0 win at home in Game 4. The Red Wings got offense from all the usual suspects, as Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg gave Howard all the offensive cushion he would need to get this series evened.
After a rough, but scoreless first period that saw 10 minutes of penalty time and plenty of physical contact, Zetterberg struck first with a powerplay goal just over 4 minutes into the 2nd. After some good puck movement around the perimeter, Zetterberg got to the front of the net and tipped in Niklas Kronwall’s point shot to beat Bryzgalov
In the 3rd, there was alot of chances at both ends, as the score remained 1-0 despite 20 Phoenix shots in the last two periods. Bryzgalov was just as good as Howard, making 32 saves, but in the closing minutes of the game, Datsyuk buried a one time through his pads to put the Wings up 2-0, and Zetterberg added his 2nd of the game and 5th of the playoffs less than 30 seconds later, with a bounce-in from the corner that the Russian netminder will probably wish he could have back.
It was a crucial win for the Wings, who needed to win to avoid falling behind 3-1 in the series. With it down to a best-of-3 and 2 games left in Phoenix, the Wings will have to win at least once on the road if they want to keep their postseason hopes alive.