Hey, remember how people were wondering if Jimmy Howard was losing control of the Detroit Red Wings’ starting job? Yeah, Thursday’s game won’t do much to silence such doubts.
Howard did indeed begin tonight’s contest against the San Jose Sharks, but it doesn’t look like* he’ll finish it. Howard was pulled in favor of Petr Mrazek heading into the second period after allowing three Sharks goals on 10 shots in the opening frame.
Again, it was just earlier today that Mike Babcock did a rather unconvincing job of kinda saying that Howard is still the No. 1 guy.
Howard, 30, came into this game with a 1-3-1 record in his past five games and could very well see another loss in that mix. Not ideal work with the playoffs about two weeks away.
* - We’ve seen instances in which both of a team’s goalies play so poorly that the starter finds himself back in the crease, so you never know ...