Trending: Howard leads Wings over Rangers again, 3-2

NEW YORK-- The Detroit Red Wings enjoyed their time in the Big Apple Tuesday night.
The Wings defeated the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden, 3-2, their second straight victory.

It also marked a Red Wings season sweep of their Original Six rivals (3-0-0).
Frans Nielsen and Andreas Athanasiou (two, one empty net) scored for the Wings.
Ryan Strome (power play) and former Wings defenseman Brendan Smith scored for the Rangers.
Detroit goaltender Jimmy Howard made 41 saves and improved to 10-3-3 lifetime against the Rangers.
New York goalie Henrik Lundqvist had 27 saves and is 7-5-6 lifetime against the Wings.
After assisting on Athanasiou's first goal in the second period, Jacob de la Rose left the game with an accelerated heartbeat and was taken to the hospital as a precaution. Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said de la Rose will remain in New York overnight before returning home to see a specialist instead of traveling to St. Louis.
"We want to be extra cautious with it," Blashill said.
de la Rose had a similar issue when he was with the Montreal Canadiens during the preseason.
"I can't say it's the exact same," Blashill said. "I know that was the issue he had there. Was it caused by the same reasons? Was it exactly the same? I can't say. Both were, from my understanding, accelerated heart rates."
The Red Wings improved to 26-37-10 while the Rangers fell to 28-32-13.
Up next for the Wings is the second game of a five-game road trip, Thursday night in St. Louis against the Blues.
The Rangers will travel to Toronto to take on the Maple Leafs on Saturday.
1. Jimmy Howard: The game notes said it all. Howard and Lundqvist have started in the same game 10 previous times and in all but one of those games, at least one of them was one of the three stars of the game. In six of those 10 games, both goalies were among the three stars. Howard seemed determined to keep that streak alive, especially as the Rangers came out buzzing. Just 22 seconds in, Howard had to stop Chris Kreider from the left circle. About four and a half minutes in, Howard faced a barrage of shots, stopping all of them, including Kevin Shattenkirk from the high slot. Near the end of the first, Pavel Buchnevich had a good chance near the net that Howard saved, one of the 17 he made in the opening period. Howard had to make 14 more in the second period to keep the Rangers off the board, including Jimmy Vesey's chance at 12:56. The Rangers needed a man-advantage to beat Howard as Strome scored from the right side of the net at 14:46 of the third. Howard earned first-star honors with his 41-save performance.

Quotable: "I don't know what it is. I just enjoy playing here. This is, I think, the greatest building in the world. It's Madison Square Garden. Whenever you can come in here and play and play well, for me being from New York, it's really special." -- Howard
Quotable II: "He's played really well for us all year. He's made huge saves countless times. He did it again tonight, made some huge saves for us, kept us in it, kept our lead and I think all the boys are happy that we got the win for him." -- Athanasiou
Quotable III: "Jimmy was excellent. He seems to be excellent every night against the Rangers, especially in this building. I thought he did a really good job. Early on, they had a number of shots that allowed him to feel his way into the game. I didn't think they were all big-time chances but we turned the puck over too many times in our own end, so it allowed him to get a feel for it. I thought he sunk in and did a real good job." -- Blashill
2. Frans Nielsen/Andreas Athanasiou: At 17:16 of the first period, Nielsen shoved his way past defenseman John Gilmour to the net and lifted the puck past Lundqvist for a 1-0 Detroit lead. It was Nielsen's 10th goal of the season and first in 14 games. His last goal was Feb. 14 against the Ottawa Senators. Taro Hirose and Brian Lashoff assisted. In 53 career games against the Rangers, Nielsen has 11 goals and 17 assists.

In the second period, rookie Michael Rasmussen poked the puck out of the zone to de la Rose, who went in 2-on-1 with Athanasiou. As he got close to the net, de la Rose passed quickly from the right to Athanasiou on the left and Athanasiou beat Lundqvist at 4:30 for a 2-0 Wings lead. It marked Athanasiou's 27th goal of the season. With 53.3 seconds left and Lundqvist out of the net for an extra attacker, Athanasiou broke free and scored an unassisted empty-net goal, passing Dylan Larkin for the team lead with 28 goals. Athanasiou now has five goals in his last four games. He also has a five-game goal streak against the Rangers. Nielsen finished with 17 shifts for 13:11, had one shot, one hit, end 2-of-7 in face-offs and was plus-1. Athanasiou finished with 23 shifts for 19:41, had a team-high six shots, one blocked shot, was 3-of-11 in face-offs and was plus-2.

Quotable: "Yeah, it was right on my tape for pretty much an empty net. Great wall play by Ras in our own end and unbelievable pass by Rosie." -- Athanasiou
Quotable II: "(Athanasiou's) got crazy talent. When he's on his game, he creates so much out there. He's one of those guys that he's a game changer. Out of nowhere he can just come there and score big goals. I think lately he's been way more consistent with his game. He's growing out there. He's getting a chance at center and I think he's taking full advantage of it, too." -- Nielsen
Quotable III: "(Athanasiou's) been playing great for us. When he's going we're a lot better team. He's one of those gamebreakers than can break the game open. It's nice to see him get the empty netter here for us as insurance. It was almost a crazy play that he made at the end on that face-off." -- Howard
Quotable IV: "I'd just say (Athanasiou's) consistency and his engagement has been much better I think than in previous years. I think from Day 1 of camp he was that way. I think when he's engaged he's a really good player. What's engaged mean? Stopping on pucks, winning puck battles, doing those types of things. And I think he's done that on a more consistent basis this year then he had a year ago. He's probably had a little more opportunity too, but that goes with it. They go hand in hand. I think the line of him, (Luke) Glendening and (Tyler) Bertuzzi, it's a good line. You got two real good defensive players on both sides of him. So as he's learning the center ice position, those guys can help him when potentially there's mistakes made. So I think it's been a good line for him to continue to excel." -- Blashill

3. Taro Hirose: Hirose had one advantage coming into Tuesday night's game at Madison Square Garden in that he had played there once before when he was with the Michigan State Spartans. But of course, that time, Hirose wasn't playing Lundqvist and the Rangers. Hirose, who earlier in the day found out he was named Big Ten player of the year, chipped the puck to Nielsen for the first goal of the game. The Wings quickly retrieved the puck for Hirose to keep as a souvenir for his first NHL point. Hirose finished with 17 shifts for 13:44, had one missed shot and was even.

Quotable: "I think it adds a little bit to the confidence but at the end of the day, I just chipped the puck out and Frans did the rest. That's what playing in the NHL is like. You get those kind of players the puck and they make plays. When you're playing with great players like that, they just make it easy for you. I think the first couple shifts were a little nervous. When I got the puck, I was just trying to get it off my stick as fast as possible. After that, I settled in and started trying to make some more plays, so towards the third period, I was getting a little bit more comfortable." -- Hirose
Quotable II: "He made a really nice play to me. It was on the boards and he got it and made a skill play. Overall, I think what you expected. You can see he's got some smooth hands and can make some plays out there. Now it's just all about him trying to get comfortable game to game." -- Nielsen

Quotable III: "Good player, smart with the puck. Made some plays, especially on the wall there tonight. One particular in the third for a chance down at the other end, I think it was a 2-on-1. It was his first game. I'm sure there was nerves but he handled it really well." -- Howard
Quotable IV: "I thought the assist was excellent. Excellent wall play there. One thing he seems to do a good job of is scanning the rink before the puck gets to him. He knows what to do with it once he gets it. It's a huge skill. I thought he did a real good job of that. It was a real nice play on the assist. I thought he seemed like what he was advertised, a real smart hockey player. He's gonna have to learn just from a size and strength aspect how to create more space for himself and those kinds of things but that goes with anyone as you move through the league. It was a good start for him." -- Blashill