Bertuzzi's two points, Howard's 29 saves leads Wings over Stars 4-1

On a night that saw the Red Wings snap a 157-minute scoring drought at home, have a balanced scoring attack, a stretch of 10:18 without a stoppage in play, and their first opening goal in five games, what may be the most interesting takeaway from their 4-1 victory over the Dallas Stars was the 29 saves of Jimmy Howard, making back-to-back wins for himself.

While his four-game stretch earlier in November showed what he could do with Chris Osgood out of commission, it's in the last two nights, where head coach Mike Babcock had the option of going with either goalie but has chosen Howard, where Howard has shone, putting Babcock in an embarrassment of riches situation heading into Thursday night's game against Edmonton.

In addition to the balanced scoring attack, the Red Wings penalty kill continued their streak, with eight straight penalties killed including the four tonight. 

In the first period, after going over 10 minutes without a stoppage in play, the Red Wings shot a puck down the ice in what appeared to be an icing call. But the Stars miscommunicated, failing to touch the puck. Drew Miller, who was skating down the ice at the time, quickly jumped on the untouched puck and took a shot, that went off Trevor Daley's arm and past Marty Turco to make it 1-0 Red Wings.

With 15 seconds left, just after Tomas Holmstrom left the penalty box, Stephane Robidas fired a 60-foot shot that went off Brenden Morrow and got past Howard to tie the game at 1. It was Morrow's 11th goal of the season.

In the second, Kris Draper got Turco to go down on his shot, only to pass the puck to Darren Helm. With a wide-open net, Helm didn't miss, and the Red Wings were back on top 2-1.

Later in the period, Henrik Zetterberg put the puck on Dan Cleary's stick behind the goal line. Cleary brought the puck up in front of Turco, then put the puck into the net to make it 3-1 on his sixth of the season.

Finally, in the third period, Todd Bertuzzi came in to the left of Turco and fired a 35-footer that bounced off Daley. That turned the puck into a knuckler, which just went off the elbow of Turco and into the edge of the net to wrap up the scoring.

Player of the game: Todd Bertuzzi. With his goal and assist, he seems to be awakening very nicely.