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Miller, Howard lead Wings past Hurricanes, 3-1

Jan 15, 2010 - 4:11 AM DETROIT(AP) -- Drew Miller and Jimmy Howard gave the Detroit Red Wings two valuable points in their bid to get back into playoff contention.

Drew Miller had a goal and an assist, and Jimmy Howard made 37 saves to help Detroit beat the Carolina Hurricanes 3-1 on Thursday night.

Nicklas Lidstrom and Henrik Zetterberg also scored, and Valtteri Filppula had two assists for the Red Wings, who had two power-play goals for the first time in 15 games.

"We needed two points," Zetterberg said. "Especially when we gave away two points on Long Island (a 6-0 loss Tuesday night). We had to come back and play good."

Tom Kostopoulos scored for Carolina, which had its three-game winning streak snapped. Cam Ward stopped 32 shots.

"We got within one but we weren't consistent enough," Hurricanes center Eric Staal said. "We didn't sustain anything long enough."

The Hurricanes' franchise hasn't won a regular-season game in Detroit in over 20 years. The Hartford Whalers beat the Red Wings 3-0 at Joe Louis Arena on Nov. 14, 1989.

Lidstrom scored his first goal since Oct. 8 to give Detroit a 1-0 lead with 8:30 left in the first period. It was a power-play effort as Lidstrom scored on a slap shot from the just inside the blue line in the middle of the ice. His second goal broke a 42-game scoring drought, the second longest of Lidstrom's career.

"It's nice to see one finally go in," Lidstrom said. "I've been taking a lot of shots, but they've missing the net, got blocked or the goalies have been saving them. I think it was more important that we got it on the power play. We needed some momentum on the power play."

Carolina had the better of the play before Lidstrom's goal.

"Their power play scored a big goal for them and that can deflate you," Staal said.

Miller's power-play goal 1:34 into the second period made it 2-0. He put in a loose puck from the front of the net for his fifth goal. Miller, who isn't a regular on the power play, also assisted on Lidstrom's goal.

"I think it was a call by the coach on the bench. I haven't done practice on the power play," Miller said. "To get out there, you just adjust to the spots on the ice, get to the front of the net. Luckily the puck went in for us."

Kostopoulos put Carolina on the board 7:17 into the third period when he knocked in the rebound of Brandon Sutter's long shot, whih bounced off Howard's mask.

Zetterberg made it 3-1 with 5:20 left when he tipped in Todd Bertuzzi's pass for his 11th goal.

"It was a great pass by Bert," Zetterberg said. "I took the defense around it was just an open net and he hit my stick."

NOTES: Detroit D Jonathan Ericsson returned after missing 12 games with a bruised knee cap. ... Carolina G Manny Legace, D Aaron Ward and LW Ray Whitney are all former Red Wings. ... Hurricanes' D Tim Gleason is from the Detroit suburb of Clawson and RW Sergei Samsonov played with the now-defunct Detroit Vipers of the old International Hockey League. ... Carolina D Joni Pitkonen limped off the ice and went to the locker room with 8:36 left after being hit with a shot. He returned to the game.