Wings take ugly win in Big Apple

There’s a good thing there are no style points in hockey.

The Detroit Red Wings at times seemed to throw goaltender Jimmy Howard to the Wolves, but he endured, allowing just one goal on 33 shots, leading his team to a 2-1 win in his first start of the new season against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Gardens Wednesday (Oct. 19) night.

The Rangers actually went to work quickly, Mika Zibanajed scoring just 69 shots in, but that was the only shot to elude Howard on this night as he stood strong and got a little help from the iron net. One other shot beat him late in the game, but it was wiped out immediately on an obvious high stick.

Once again, the Wings got little offense from its top six forwards in this one, although the team’s first goal came on a powerplay that had a mix of lines represented. Thomas Vanek pulled the trigger on his third of the young season 6:15 into the second from Frans Nielsen and Mike Green.

The fourth line produced the game winner, a beautiful feed from behind the net by Luke Glendening setting up Drew Miller for the tally in the opening minute of the third period.

At one point in the second period, a trio of penalties, including a ‘Too Many Men on the Ice’ put the Wings in PK mode for more than five straight minutes, including a couple of stretches down two skaters.

But, a win is a win, the Wings will gladly take the two minutes which puts them at .500 for the first time and look to build on it, hopefully with some help from the top two lines.

Thursday Night’s Games.

The only other game on that night saw the Toronto Maple Leafs grab a 4-0 lead before letting the host Winnipeg Jets rally all of the way back for a 5-4 win in overtime.

The Minnesota Wild is hoping that had an affect on the young team’s psyche as they play a Leafs team looking to rebound tonight at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

The Wild will go with Devan Dubnyk between the pipes and the Leafs will give Jhonas Enroth his first start of the season.

Meanwhile, the St. Louis Blues will play the middle game of its three-game road trip, taking on the Edmonton Oilers at the Rogers Center. Both the 3-0-1-0 Blues and 3-1-0-0 Oilers are off to fast starts, so this one could have some extra early season excitement.

As of press time it appeared Jake Allen would get the call once again and Jaden Schwartz is expected to be in the lineup for the first time on the first line alongside of Alex Steen and Vladimir Tarasenko. It also appears Robert Bortuzzo will switch spots with Joel Edmundson on the defense pairings; Edmundson partnered with Colton Parayko now and Bortuzzo alongside of Kevin Shattenkirk.

The Oilers will stick with Cam Talbot between the pipes.