Detroit Red Wings: Jimmy Howard Making Statement He's Ready for Deep Playoff Run

Reasonable people can disagree on this issue, however, the notion that there can be "statement games" in the regular season is a viable one.

Some say that statement games can only come in the playoffs, like when a team is down 2-0 in a series and fights back to win Game 3, or when the home ice team is beaten in Game 1 in their own barn by an up and coming lower seed.

While statement games are certainly more plentiful in the postseason, the regular season can yield some as well, particularly for individual players.

If you're lucky, you can watch one unfold and file it away in your head for reference come mid-April.

If you were watching Friday night's tilt between Montreal and Detroit, be glad, because you were privy to what may be long remembered as a statement game by Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard.

The two teams met at Joe Louis Arena amidst wholly opposite streaks.

The Canadiens had won their past three games, and the Red Wings were struggling with an 0-2-1 record over that same time.

Montreal was playing smart, aggressive hockey and Detroit had fallen into an uninspired slump, making getting out of it, at least against a rolling Canadiens team, a tall order.

Then, there was the impending brilliance of the goalie Detroit head coach Mike Babcock stated prior to the game he felt was the best in the league, Montreal's Carey Price.

Price has been unbelievably good this season and swaggered into Detroit the league leader in wins with 17.

However, the man right below him in that category, with 15 victories, was the very same guy Price would be facing at the other end of the ice on Friday night.

Jimmy Howard has heretofore followed up a brilliant rookie campaign last season by winning game after game this season as Detroit's starting netminder.

With the two winningest goalies in the NHL this season squaring off against each other, and in an Original Six matchup no less, the drama was sure to rise to a lofty height.

The game was indeed one of the best of the season, and (crossing fingers, toes and eyes here) could conceivably be a Stanley Cup Finals preview (you hear me Hockey Gods?).

The Red Wings, aided by six power plays in the first 40 minutes, looked like the better team through much of the first half of the game.  However, Montreal mounted a dominating effort in the third period and had the game been judged by that period alone, the Canadiens looked every bit the better team.

That superior effort did much to solidify the Canadiens as one of the best teams in the NHL this season, but it did more to prove that Jimmy Howard is one of the best goalies in the NHL.

The Canadiens pressed, firing shot after shot (19 total for the third period alone) at Jimmy Howard with the specter of dropping a fourth straight game hanging over his head. The throng of visiting Montreal fans thunderously tried urging their team to victory (chants of "Carey! Carey!" arose often throughout the night), as the Red Wings desperately clung to the one-goal lead they'd spotted him. The mental stress the situation produced must have been enormous on Howard.

Still, the more intense the action got, the calmer Jimmy Howard appeared to play.

The pressure and heat of the situation would surely cause many sophomore goalies to crack, however, it simply made Jimmy Howard tougher and more solid in net.

The Canadiens had several chances to tie the game, or even win it in the third period, and they knew it.

Once the game had been decided, several Montreal players looked over at Detroit's goalie, and shook their head in disbelief before hanging them in disappointment.

With the Canadiens on a 3-0 streak, and the Wings skidding at 0-3, Friday night's game was as close as a regular season game could get to a decisive playoff tilt.

With his daunting opponent at the other end of the ice, and the talented squad in front of him, had Jimmy Howard buckled under the pressure in the third period, it's unlikely that he would have shouldered much blame.

But, Howard instead chose to put his team on his back and forge ahead, undaunted until the horn signaled the end of the game, and with it, victory.

When it comes to winning in the playoffs, that is just the kind of performance any team needs out of their goaltender if it's to win a series, and doing so in a pressure-packed situation is more necessary still.

Jimmy Howard has performed this way before, but his performance against Montreal leaves little doubt that he's ready to do it again, and again.

Yes, some would say there's no such thing as a statement game in the regular season.

Nevertheless, on Friday night, Jimmy Howard certainly said something.

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