Lidstrom Breaks Scoring Drought As Wings Beat 'Canes 3-1

Facing the last place team in the NHL coming off an embarassing 6-0 loss two nights earlier against the New York Islanders, the Red Wings figured they'd have a good chance to earn two points.

They did just that, defeating the Carolina Hurricanes 3-1 at Joe Louis Arena. And they did it with a 2-for-6 power play, on top of another strong performance from Jimmy Howard, with 37 saves.

In addition, Jonathan Ericsson made his return from the injured list, playing 15:17 over 21 shifts.

With Jerome Samson sitting in the box, the Red Wings jumped out first. Valtteri Filppula set up Nicklas Lidstrom on the blue line. With Drew Miller effectively screening Cam Ward after making the initial pass to Filppula, Lidstrom's shot made it through a pair of Hurricanes and past Ward for Lidstrom's first goal in 43 games and second of the season.

In the second, the Wings took advantage of another Hurricane penalty. This time it was Jussi Jokinen in the penalty box when Miller took advantage of another Filppula pass to get the puck to the back of the net for his fifth goal of the season. Dan Cleary picked up the other assist.

In the third period, Brandon Sutter took a shot from Howard's left that Howard blocked, but the shot handcuffed Howard and rebounded right to Tom Kostopoulos, who put the puck past Howard for his sixth goal of the season.

Then, with 5:20 left in the third, Niclas Wallin made a horrible pass from behind his net that was easily intercepted by Todd Bertuzzi. He passed it right to Henrik Zetterberg, who had his stick right on the ice to put it past Cam Ward.

The Red Wings will face a pair of games this weekend, traveling to Dallas on Saturday afternoon before coming home for Sunday's matinee against the Blackhawks.

Player of the Game: Drew Miller. A goal and an assist for Miller, who had several good chances in the contest.