The Wings had just one four-game winning streak last season, from Jan. 2-10.
1. Gustav Nyquist: Nyquist scored his first goal of the season Friday night against the Nashville Predators whole recording six shots on goal, tied with Luke Glendening for most on the team for the game. Nyquist picked up where he left off, scoring at 4:14 of the second period against the Sharks. Jonathan Ericsson pushed the puck ahead to Nyquist, who had enough time to lift the puck into the top right corner over Sharks goalie Martin Jones. Nyquist was not done. At 15:10 of the second, Ryan Sproul picked the puck off Matt Nieto and got it to Nyquist, whose shot went off of Jones' left arm and in the net. Nyquist and Sproul tied for the team lead with five shots.
Quotable: "It's nice obviously to score goals. Obviously I didn't do a good enough job of that last year. But it's early. I didn't score the first few games and now I've managed to score a couple so that was obviously nice." - Nyquist
2. Jimmy Howard: Wings coach Jeff Blashill said Howard's performance in the 2-1 win over the New York Rangers Wednesday was one of the best he'd seen by a goaltender at any level. While the defense played much better in front of Howard Saturday, Howard stopped all 30 shots he faced for his 23rd career shutout. It's Howard's first shutout since the pivotal one last April 6 against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Quotable: "It was great to hear them chanting my name but all in all I thought that was probably our most complete game so far as a team. I thought we really executed well tonight, especially on the PK, because that's a very dangerous power play." - Howard
3. Justin Abdelkader /Andreas Athanasiou: Abdelkader was announced as a scratch with a lower-body injury before the game. General manager Ken Holland said Abdelkader is considered day-to-day. Andreas Athanasiou drew into the lineup and made his presence felt. In the third period, Thomas Vanek found Athanasiou alone outside the Sharks zone and Athanasiou blasted the puck to the top right corner of the net for his first goal of the season. In just 8:44, Athanasiou had three shots.
Quotable: "I thought he had a good game. That was probably the best game he's had for me in the regular season. It was a heck of a play by Vanek on the track to get the puck and then zip it up to Double-A. That was obviously a good finish by him. I thought Double-A was skating pretty good tonight. He took good strides." - Blashill
