Trending: Howard moves past Thomas in win over Ducks

DETROIT -- In a heavy, grinding game, the Red Wings didn't get a lot of shots against the Anaheim Ducks but they made the most of the chances they had.
Despite getting only 16 shots, their second-lowest total this season, the Wings defeated the Ducks, 2-1, Tuesday night at Little Caesars Arena.

The Wings improved to 23-23-9 overall and 12-11-7 at home while the Ducks fell to 27-20-11 overall and 12-11-7 on the road.
Dylan Larkin and Frans Nielsen scored for Detroit while Adam Henrique scored for Anaheim.
Tomas Tatar played in his 400th NHL game and Niklas Kronwall passed Red Kelly for 15th in team history in games played with 865.
1. Jimmy Howard: With the win over the Ducks, Howard recorded his 215th career victory, which moved him ahead of Tim Thomas for seventh place in NHL history for victories by an American-born goalie. For his career, Howard is 215-141-60. Against Anaheim, Howard stopped 32 of 33 shots, posting a .970 save percentage en route to being named the game's first star. In a contest where the Red Wings were outshot 33-16, Howard was certainly the difference maker versus a Ducks team that played with desperation and urgency as it battles for a playoff berth in an extremely tight Western Conference playoff race.
Quotable: "That's a great thing. I think anytime you're in that top of the list of accomplishments, I think that's awesome. I've talked lots about this where Jimmy a couple years ago, last year, was in a tough spot and over the summer, he was told he was going to be the backup and he went to work. I just think that's what life's about. I talked to a group this morning, I just believe success in life comes from work ethic and perseverance, and I think he showed both those things. He went to work and he persevered. It's not about whether you get knocked down, it's about how many times you get back up, and Jimmy's gotten back up whenever he's been challenged, including this season. He, like our team, has to continue to get back up when we get knocked down." - Wings coach Jeff Blashill
Quotable II: "I didn't even know (about passing Thomas), thanks for bringing it up. It's really special, but for a goaltender to get wins, you have to have guys in front of you willing to go out there and do their jobs. Really, it's all the guys in front of me." - Howard
2. Dylan Larkin: When Larkin gets a gift, he knows what to do with it. At 13:32 of the first period, Ducks defenseman Kevin Bieksa passed the puck from behind the net right to Larkin, who turned and buried a backhand shot past Anaheim goaltender John Gibson. The goal extended Larkin's point streak to four games, with one goal and four assists in that span. Larkin has nine goals this season. He had 24 shifts for 18:07, had one goal on two shots, one takeaway and finished 2-for-7 in face-offs.
Quotable: "We grinded out a win. It was a hard game. They played heavy and had the puck a lot. All their D can skate. It was a tough game, but Jimmy played awesome and our team defense got a lot of practice, but we stuck with it and we did a good job, made it hard for them to get on the inside." - Larkin
Quotable II: "Just that we really didn't give up. I thought maybe tonight we didn't have our best legs but we found a way to grind out a win. I thought we battled hard. This was probably closest to a playoff game in a while for us, so there was not a lot of room. It was fun to play a game like that." - captain Henrik Zetterberg
3. Frans Nielsen: Nielsen took advantage of a nice pass from Anthony Mantha and beat Gibson stick-side with a shot from the slot at 15:37 of the second period. The goal extended Nielsen's point streak to five games, with two goals and five assists in that span. Nielsen has 13 goals this season. Mike Green had the initial shot on Gibson and picked up the second assist, his 100th point with the Red Wings. Nielsen had a chance to get his second when he and Darren Helm had a 2-on-0 breakaway at 15:19. Helm passed to Nielsen, who hit the crossbar. After going eight games without a point, Nielsen now has nine points (3-6-9) in his last nine. He finished with 25 shifts for 14:32, had one goal on one shot, two blocked shots and finished 1-for-9 in face-offs.
Quotable: "I think Fransy's been real consistent in his game all year. I think when you play a consistent game, the puck, sometimes you point and sometimes you don't. But just like I think Anthony Mantha had played real well and not gotten rewarded for a while, then he finally got rewarded, I just think when you play good hockey you get rewarded in the long term." - Blashill
Quotable II: "I don't think about this too much. You try and go out there and compete every night and sometimes it bounces your way. I'm having a little bit of luck right now, so I just gotta keep working and hopefully it will keep bouncing my way. I've played a lot with Helm this year and think we'd done fairly well, but we struggled finishing and helping the team on the scoresheet that way, so it's been nice lately that we've been able to do that. It shows in the wins, too, when we're able to help that way." - Nielsen