DETROIT -- Adversity is inevitable for any goaltender in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Detroit Red Wings rookie Jimmy Howard is dealing with a shaky previous performance as a crucial Game 4 looms Tuesday night against the Phoenix Coyotes.

It helps having Chris Osgood around to provide advice and act as a sounding board.

"He's pretty much seen it all in his career,'' Howard said. "I can bounce things off him and he's very truthful telling me if I've made the right play or not. He tells me what I should've done here and there. I'm just thankful that I have a teammate like that.''

Osgood's message to Howard was simple: Forget about

.

"I just told him go inside (the dressing room), get your stuff off and go hang out in the back,'' Osgood said. "I said, 'Let's not dwell on something that's already happened. You can't change it. Move on from it.' That's what we've done.

"I had tons of guys I was fortunate to play with who did the same thing for me. It helps a lot to have a guy around like that, just to know he's got your back. Stuff happens during the course of the playoffs.

Red Wings coach Mike Babcock had similar advice, saying Howard only needs to focus on the next puck.

"There's nothing you can do about the ones that went in,'' Babcock said. "If he spends any time worrying about that stuff, then that's an issue for him.

"All the great goalies of all-time, when you watch the highlights, you'll see them let in awful goals. But it's not about that, it's about the next one. Howie has been great at that. Now, it's new stakes.

"You've got to respond to that, and we're real comfortable that he's going to. That's not a concern for us at all.''

Howard said he allowed untimely goals that are "momentum shifters and backbreakers in the playoffs'' in Game 3.

He followed Osgood's advice and didn't think about hockey when he got home. He came to the rink Monday and said he had "a great practice.''

"Being a goalie, you have to have a short-term memory,'' Howard said. "You have to go back out there and do your job. (Goaltending coach) Jim Bedard and I went over everything I was doing good, just reinforced everything positively.''