In Detroit, the Red Wings’ Jimmy Howard turned aside 37 shots from the Pittsburgh Penguins in a 4-1 win Sunday.
Gustav Nyquist struck for two goals including his 100th NHL goal.
“It was fun to hit that number, especially in front of a great crowd on New Year’s Eve,” said Nyquist, who reached the milestone in his 375th NHL game. “This was a fun game, and a big win.”
Detroit improved to 15-16-7 with the win.
“It’s huge that we’ve found ways to get points in back-to-back games,” Howard said. “We knew they were going to come out wired, but we weathered it and got rolling.”
Dylan Larkin and Frans Nielsen added single markers for the Wings.
“We know that every point right now is important, and that we’ve still got a huge mountain to climb. We’ve got to put together a long streak to get back in this, but two wins is definitely a start,” Nielsen said after the win.
Evgeni Malkin had the lone goal for Pittsburgh who dropped to 19-18-3 on the campaign.
“We’re working hard and we’re creating chances, so it is disappointing that we’re not getting anything to go in right now,” Sidney Crosby said. “As tight as the standings are, we either need to score more goals or find a way to win 1-0 and 2-1.”
Pittsburgh has had issues scoring goals of late with one goal being a common outcome.
“We have to find a way to score more goals, especially at even strength. It isn’t a matter of creating chances — we had several point-blank opportunities tonight — but we have to get them into the net. That’s not happening,” Pens head coach Mike Sullivan said.
[WATCH:Â All Penguins vs. Red Wings highlights]
Matt Murray made 19 saves in the loss.
“It seemed like every mistake we made ended up in the net and we didn’t get any reward for the good things that we did,” Sullivan said. “It stings to keep losing like this, but we’ve got to learn from what we’re going through.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.