Dylan Larkin and Andreas Athanasiou scored goals.
DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings continue damaging their draft lottery odds, but that is of no concern to players and coaches.
Their job is to win, even though the team was eliminated from playoff contention long ago.
The Red Wings won their third in a row Saturday, 2-0 over the Ottawa Senators at Little Caesars Arena, as Jimmy Howard made 31 saves for his first shutout of the season and 24 th of his career.
This is only the second time this season Detroit has won as many as three in a row. It won a season-high four consecutive games from Dec. 29 to Jan. 5.
The victory means the Red Wings (30-38-11) can’t finish last overall.
Dylan Larkin and Andreas Athanasiou scored goals.
The Senators (27-40-11), who were an overtime goal away from reaching the Stanley Cup finals last year, are 1-7-0 in their past seven.
Larkin opened the scoring at 4:10 of the second period, the only goal through 40 minutes. It as an easy tap-in into an open net after a pass from Anthony Mantha. It was Larkin’s 14 th goal, his fifth in the past seven games.
Athanasiou made it 2-0 at 4:29 of the third, corralling the puck in the slot and firing it past Mike Condon for his 16 th goal. The Senators challenged goaltender interference on Evgeny Svechnikov, who was parked in the crease, but it was to no avail.
