Franzen has 2 goals, 2 assists in Red Wings’ 6-2 victory over Wild

Franzen has 2 goals, 2 assists to lead Red Wings

DETROIT — Johan Franzen had two goals and two assists for his first career four-point game in the Detroit Red Wings’ 6-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Friday night.

Pavel Datsyuk, Tomas Holmstrom and Jonathan Ericsson each had a goal and an assist, and Drew Miller also scored for Detroit, which tied a season high with its fourth straight win. Jimmy Howard made 25 saves.

Andrew Brunette and Owen Nolan scored for Minnesota and Josh Harding made 28 saves before leaving after two periods because of a lower-body injury. Niklas Backstrom replaced him and stopped eight shots.

Franzen opened the scoring 1:19 into the second period. He cut in off the left wing, faked a shot from the circle — which Harding bit on — and put the puck into the empty net after taking a couple of more strides.

Holmstrom’s power-play goal made it 2-0 4:22 into the middle period with his 21st goal. He tipped Nicklas Lidstrom’s shot in out of the air.

Ericsson’s short-handed goal, at 10:03, also came off a tip of Lidstrom’s slap shot. It was Ericsson’s fourth goal.

Datsyuk was credited with his 24th goal just 1:20 later when his pass out of the corner bounced in off the skate of Wild defenseman Greg Zanon in the crease.

Brunette’s power-play goal with 3:53 left in the second put Minnesota on the board. He poked in a loose puck from the crease while being pulled down. It was Brunette’s 23rd goal.

Nolan got his 15th goal, 2:09 into the third period, when his bouncing, harmless-looking shot from the top of the right circle along the boards skipped over Howard’s pad and between his arm and body.

Franzen’s second goal, and ninth of the season, came on the power play 5:29 into the third when a bouncing puck went in off his leg.

Miller added his ninth goal, 7:26 into the third period.

The Wild’s Guillaume Latendresse’s shot 3:37 into the first period was originally called a goal on the ice by referee Dan O’Rourke. But that call was overturned on video replay, which showed that the puck slid along the goal line but never completely crossed it.

NOTES: Howard turned 26 on Friday. After the morning skate Kris Draper, as he does on each of his teammates’ birthdays during the season, got Howard in the face with a shaving cream pie. It was Howard’s 21st straight start. The last Detroit rookie goalie with that many starts in a row was Roy Edwards with 23 in 1967-68. … Minnesota center and captain Mikko Koivu missed his second game with an injured arm … Red Wings forward Patrick Eaves returned after missing three games with a head/neck injury. … Detroit forward Dan Cleary left the game during the first period with an aggravated groin. … Franzen’s goal broke a string of nine straight Red Wings’ goals scored by the line of Henrik Zetterberg, Valtteri Filppula and Todd Bertuzzi. That unit scored all of Detroit’s goals in the past two games and the final two in the previous contest. … Wild forward Chuck Kobasew left the game after the second period with a lower-body injury. … Minnesota’s James Sheppard’s assist on Nolan’s goal was is first point in 31 games.