Red Wings 5, Islanders 0: Jimmy Howard made 29 saves for his 18th career shutout and Darren Helm and Daniel Alfredsson scored two goals apiece as visiting Detroit handed New York its fifth consecutive defeat.

Gustav Nyquist also scored and Alfredsson added an assist to celebrate his 1,200th career game with a three-point performance as the Red Wings extended their winning streak to three games. Defensemen Niklas Kronwall and Brendan Smith added two assists apiece for Detroit, which has outscored the opposition 14-2 in the three-game win streak and earned registered its first regulation victory against the Islanders in the last eight meetings dating to November 2003.

Howard turned aside 12 shots in the first 20 minutes en route to halting a personal seven-game winless drought (0-3-4) to notch his second shutout of the season. It was his first victory since Nov. 1 and dropped New York to 0-5-0 since a 5-4 shootout win over the Red Wings on Nov. 16.

Helm supplied Howard with the only goal he would need at 7:09 of the first period, taking a drop pass from Alfredsson and cutting through the middle before tucking a backhander behind Kevin Poulin (25 saves). Helm doubled the lead in dazzling fashion with 3:11 left in the middle second, racing past Andrew MacDonald and beating an onrushing Poulin before somersaulting over the goaltender for a short-handed goal.

Alfredsson, who was in his third game back since missing five contests with a groin injury, snuck behind the defense and accepted a home run pass from Smith before beating Poulin high to the glove side only 12 seconds into the third period. Nyquist finished off a two-on-one exactly six minutes later and Alfredsson capped the scoring with his second tally with 3:47 to play.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Helm, who also had an assist, has scored six goals in his last seven games and moved into third on the team with seven tallies despite playing in only 13 games. ... Islanders captain John Tavares had his three-game point streak halted. He had 12 points in the previous nine games. ... Red Wings C Pavel Datsyuk sat out his third consecutive game with concussion-like symptoms and is also expected to sit out Saturday's contest against Ottawa.