Red Wings 2, Canucks 0: Jimmy Howard turned aside 16 shots in relief of Jonas Gustavsson and Justin Abdelkader scored twice as host Detroit spoiled the return to the bench of Vancouver coach John Tortorella.

Howard denied Detroit native David Booth on a penalty shot early in the second period - just minutes after entering the contest when Gustavsson (eight saves) remained in the locker room due to dizziness. Gustav Nyquist notched an assist one day removed from recording his first career hat trick in a 6-5 overtime loss to Washington as the Red Wings improved to 4-1-2 in their last seven games.

Eddie Lack finished with 28 saves for the Canucks, who suffered their fourth straight setback despite the return of captain Henrik Sedin from a six-game absence due to a rib injury.

Abdelkader unleashed a wrist shot from well above the left circle that sailed over the right elbow of Lack to open the scoring 1:08 into the second period.

Howard shook off a collision with Vancouver's Alex Edler later in the session before making just three saves in the third period. Daniel Sedin registered the Canucks' first shot in the session with 5:36 remaining and Abdelkader added an empty-net tally for his third goal in two games.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Tortorella served a 15-day suspension following his actions in a wild game against Calgary on Jan. 18. Vancouver posted a 2-4-0 mark in his absence. ... Nyquist replaced teammate LW Johan Franzen on Sweden's Olympic team on Monday. Nyquist joins fellow Red Wings RW Daniel Alfredsson, LW Henrik Zetterberg, Ds Niklas Kronwall and Jonathan Ericsson and Gustavsson on the team. ... Vancouver acquired D Raphael Diaz from Montreal for RW Dale Weise on Monday afternoon. Diaz notched 11 assists and 100 blocked shots in 46 games with the Canadiens.