Howard, Nielsen help Red Wings edge Senators

OTTAWA -- Jimmy Howard made 37 saves and Frans Nielsen scored in the shootout to give the Detroit Red Wings a 2-1 win against the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday.
Howard stopped Derick Brassard in the third round of the shootout to preserve the win. Martin Frk scored his second goal of the season for Detroit (2-0-0).

Dion Phaneuf scored his first of the season, and Craig Anderson made 29 saves for the Senators (0-0-2), who start the season with two straight shootout losses. Ottawa was defeated by the Washington Capitals 5-4 in its opener on Thursday.
WATCH: [All Red Wings vs. Senators highlights]
"A little lucky. It's kind of my go-to (move), the backhander," Nielsen said of his shootout goal. "I fanned a little bit on it, but it was good to see it go in."
Nielsen is 45-for-91 in the shootout, tied with Florida Panthers forward Radim Vrbata (45-for-104) for most shootout goals in NHL history. It was Nielsen's 20th game-deciding shootout goal, also most all-time.

Frk gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead with 2:34 left in the third period. Phaneuf tied it 1-1 43 seconds later.
In the Red Wings blew a lead for the second consecutive game but responded with a win. Detroit was up 2-0 in its opener against the Minnesota Wild on Thursday. The Wild tied it 2-2 before the Red Wings scored twice to make it 4-2.
"It was tough. A tough goal to give up," Nielsen said of Phaneuf's shot which appeared to deflect off Detroit defenseman Mike Green in the slot. "Just like Minnesota came back against us, we didn't go down at all. We just came out and kept playing. It's a good sign."
The Senators were 0-for-7 on the power play and are 0-for-12 in two games this season. The Red Wings went 0-for-4 with the man-advantage.
"I don't think you get discouraged and get negative about it, because when you do that you grip it a little more tight, and nothing comes from that," Phaneuf said of the power play. "We'll stick to it, we'll work on it, and we expect to get better at it."

Four of the Red Wings' penalties were for slashing.
"We've got to stay out of the box," Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. "We can't take that many penalties. We've got to learn to keep our stick on the ice and go stick on puck and not near the hands. We know what it's going to be. We have to do a better job."

Goal of the game

Frederik Claesson failed to control the puck in the Ottawa zone. Dylan Larkin took advantage, passing the puck to Frk, who scored on a snap shot in the slot despite losing his footing and falling to the ice.
"I said it before the year, [Frk's] a guy that can score on one shot," Blashill said. "He's done that. He's done that in critical moments in two games now. He's made such good improvements in his game where he can be out there late in games because I trust him a lot and then he uses that weapon of a shot."

Save of the game

Howard stopped Ryan Dzingel on a breakaway to keep the game 0-0 at 2:27 of the second period.

Highlight of the game

Anderson lunged to his left to stop a backhand shot by Justin Abdelkader with 2:19 left in the second.

They said it

"His shot is a weapon. Today, again, it's not really a chance. He just got the puck and fired it and basically overpowered Anderson. It's good to see. He's on a good pace here." -- Red Wings forward Henrik Zetterberg on Martin Frk
"I definitely feel we deserved a better fate. It was one of the best goaltending duels I've seen in a long time. That was absolutely ridiculous. Both goalies didn't want to budge." -- Senators coach Guy Boucher

Need to know

Senators captain Erik Karlsson, who had surgery on his left foot June 14, missed his straight second game and remains day to day. … Ottawa defenseman Ben Harpur left after the second period because of an upper-body injury.

What's next

Red Wings: At the Dallas Stars on Tuesday (8:30 p.m. ET; FS-SW, FS-D, NHL.TV)
Senators:At the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday (10 p.m. ET; SNV, TSN5, RDS, NHL.TV)