Detroit’s efforts to get a victory at home were quieted at the Joe Louis Arena Friday night. The Winnipeg Jets put every ounce of energy they had left going on to end a losing streak beating the Red Wings 5-3. The loss gave Detroit their fourth defeat in a row while their opponents ended their own woes.
The Red Wings got Niklas Kronwall back in the lineup for the first time this season. The veteran defenseman sat out the start of the season dealing with a knee injury that has now allowed him to expedite his way back to the ice. Kronwall’s presence is greatly needed as the team sat on a three-game losing streak hoping to bring it to an end against the Jets on home ice. Winnipeg has also lost three straight that included a Thursday night loss to the Capitals that came in overtime. Both carried losing streaks into the night with the hope of it coming to an end for one of them.
Luke Glendening made things happen after three minutes skating in the right place to redirect a shot from Danny DeKeyser giving him his first of the season. The goal from Glendening helped Detroit increase their shots on the net of Connor Hellebuyck. By the halfway point, Detroit already had ten shots on goal while minimizing the struggling Jets to just a pair. It was nearly seven minutes since Winnipeg took their scoring chances in the Red Wings zone with Petr Mrazek between the pipes. They took another pair at the Czech net minder but he dealt with them easily.
The Jets became quite active late in the period with another pair of shots that woke up their lines. On a big opportunity from the faceoff, Winnipeg stole the puck away in the neutral zone during a change that Patrik Laine took off with, scoring a wrister to Mrazek for his seventh on the year. The success of tying the game only made Detroit want control back quickly that Gustav Nyquist made clear in his attempt.
Detroit had a late power play on their hands but their low success rate going against a solid penalty killing unit left them out of sorts during the two-minute man advantage. Despite not gaining the lead during their chance, they kept out front on the Jets outshooting them 15-8 through 20 minutes. The Red Wings faceoff was still underperforming which allowed the Jets to gain leverage and even up the game.
The second period saw Detroit again pushing their offense once more to get back the lead. Through half the period, the Red Wings took eight shots to the net while holding Winnipeg to four. A big play for the Red Wings had three men in where a rebounded shot came in line with the stick of captain Henrik Zetterberg as she slapped the puck in mid-air scoring his second. Officials went back to review the play and saw that Zetterberg had his stick below the crossbar to make it a good goal.
The one-goal lead wasn’t enough for Detroit to be comfortable and pressed in the Winnipeg zone to fire heavily on Hellebuyck. They closed in on the 30 shots mark but in the final minutes, Detroit couldn’t increase the lead all while the Jets were showing signs of fatigue playing back to back games. They gained nine shots in the period while still competitive off the face-off which remained a trait that dominated the Red Wings.
Winnipeg’s tenacity paid off huge just two minutes in where a scramble in front of Mrazek turned into a tying goal for the Jets. Mark Scheifele took a chance at the puck where it somehow crossed the line under the back of the Red Wings goaltender that was reviewed carefully by officials who called it a good goal. It was Scheifele’s sixth of the season and one that many in the arena didn’t agree with. It took some time but with focus and plenty left in the tank, the Red Wings got things going in the second half of the period with Detroit’s veterans getting together to gain the lead. Justin Abdelkader scored one for the second of the season but soon came to pass. The Jets tied the game two minutes later on a goal that quickly ringed out of the net for play to continue.
The NHL’s situation room stopped the game to alert officials that Winnipeg did indeed score with Brandon Tanev scoring his first career goal on a lift that hit the inside corner of the net leveling the score at three all. Very little time was on the clock and left both teams to either make something happen or send things to overtime. For the Jets, they made their intentions clear to end the game in regulation. Tanev became responsible for the go ahead and his second of the night rifling a shot past Mrazek for his second.
There was 66 seconds left on the clock and no opportunity for Mrazek to leave the net. By the time he did, there were ten seconds left and with six to go, the Jets scored once more. Nikolaj Ehlers made his third count to hand Winnipeg a victory to put a halt to their three-game skid.
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