from Jared Clinton of The Hockey News,

...somewhere around Halloween — on Oct. 28, to be exact — a bizarre thing started to happen in Detroit. With the Dallas Stars in town, the Red Wings put up a four-spot and skated away with their second win of the season to move to 2-7-2 on the campaign. Two nights later, Detroit posted five goals in a defeat of the Columbus Blue Jackets. And the Red Wings stretched their winning streak to three games two nights later with a one-goal win over the visiting New Jersey Devils.

The winning hasn’t stopped there, though. In almost unthinkable fashion, the Red Wings have continued to pile up the victories. Since Oct. 28, Detroit has the best winning percentage in the NHL, a 9-2-0 record and more points than all but the New York Rangers, who have the benefit of an additional game played. The Red Wings’ winning ways have been highlighted by one-goal victories, shootout wins, overtime heroics and straight-up blowouts. And Detroit has rewarded its fans with curly fries upon curly fries upon curly fries. We’re talking 10 of the past 11 games.

So, how exactly did a seemingly moribund team come back from the brink to become the NHL’s hottest? The answer lies between the pipes.

Over the past four weeks, the goaltending duo of Jimmy Howard and Jonathan Bernier has been impeccable, hands down the best one-two punch in the league. Numbers alone tell the story, too.

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