Red Wings' Jimmy Howard on the Brink of 150th Career Win

With a 25-save effort in Saturday night's 4-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard recorded his 149th career NHL regular-season victory. Win No. 150 will move Howard into a tie with Charlie Hodge for 107th on the league's all-time leaderboard in that category.

Currently, 20 active NHL goalies have notched more wins than Howard, who recorded his first victory for the Red Wings back on Nov. 28, 2005 against the Los Angeles Kings. To date, Howard, drafted 64th overall by Detroit in the 2003 entry draft, has 281 career NHL regular-season appearances to his credit. 

Howard's first shot at hitting the 150-win milestone is on track to come Wednesday night when the Red Wings take on the high-flying Boston Bruins at home. It will be a challenge, to say the least, with the Bruins currently on a 15-0-1 run and the Red Wings dealing with injuries to the likes of Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk and now Daniel Alfredsson.

With seven games left on their regular-season slate, however, Howard and the Red Wings can't afford to let up for one second, with a handful of teams clawing for the two wild-card spots available in the NHL's Eastern Conference. Heading into Wednesday's action, the Red Wings have recorded 84 points, which currently has them in the first playoff wild-card spot in the the East.

Meanwhile, the Red Wings have qualified for the playoffs for the past 22 NHL seasons. That's the longest such active streak in North American major professional sports, per the team's official website.