Detroit 4, Ducks 0.

The Ducks’ 41 shots amounted to a whole hill of beans against Jimmy Howard.

Howard’s fifth career shutout, two of which have come against Anaheim, allowed the Red Wings to stay perfect in three games against the Ducks this season. The Wings won’t be back until March 2, by which time Teemu Selanne should have recovered from the groin injury that kept him out of Friday’s game.

In spite of their chances, the Ducks had no answer for goals by Johan Franzen, Tomas Holmstrom, Danny Cleary and Valtteri Filppula.

A split crowd of 15,173 at Honda Center had little to cheer for in a game that saw the Ducks commit 16 giveaways, and fail to screen Howard nearly as much as the Wings screened Hiller.

“We have to eliminate those mistakes we made in our own zone, especially just giving the puck away way too often,” said Hiller, who stopped 25 shots. “They were able to keep us on the outside all night long, and we weren’t really able to get second opportunities.”

More details in tomorrow’s editions. Here are a few notes that won’t make tomorrow’s editions:


Fans watching on TV caught a good glimpse of Bobby Ryan writhing in pain late in the second period. Said Ryan: “Zetterberg and I kind of got tangled up. I hit the back (goal)post where it kind of protrudes with my shoulder. It was just a jarring. I had 20 minutes to loosen up. I was fine. Nothing major. Just a stinger.”

Matt Beleskey played a scoreless 12:39 in his first NHL game since Oct. 26, and finished a minus-2. The line of he (4), Nick Bonino (3) and Brandon McMillan (3) had no problems generating chances on offense.

Joffrey Lupul had a three assist game for the Syracuse Crunch, the third game of a conditioning stint with the Ducks’ American Hockey League affiliate. According to the Syracuse Post-Dispatch, Lupul was recalled by the Ducks (with general manager Bob Murray in attendance) after playing 22:07 in a 6-5 loss to the Rochester Americans.

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