Red Wings shatter losing streak with 5-1 win over Winnipeg

Gustav Nyquist #14 of the Detroit Red Wings celebrates his first period goal with teammate Niklas Kronwall #55 during an NHL game against the Winnipeg Jets at Little Caesars Arena on December 5, 2017 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Dave Reginek/NHLI Getty Images)

The Detroit Red Wings ended a very long losing streak with massive results at Little Caesars Arena Tuesday night. Five different players came together to make a statement in front of their fans that positivity could result in their 5-1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets. It brought their seven-game losing streak to a close and a big relief to Red Wings fans in attendance. It was the first time that Detroit played a full game of hockey which definitely gave them the deserving win.

The Red Wings are on a nonstop slide that only got worse this past weekend. The Montreal Canadiens dominated Detroit on Thursday and Saturday with two huge wins in regulation that showed that the Red Wings were not on the ball. Saturday’s 10-1 defeat left them to know that something had to come from the offense and defense as a whole.

Pucks needed to be fired upon and gain the upper hand. It was to be another challenge against the Winnipeg Jets who have gone 9-2-1 in their last 11 and sit on a two-game winning streak. Coach Jeff Blashill continued to have faith in Jimmy Howard who made another start hoping that he and his team have better results coming back home to play.

They got things going against Michigan native Connor Hellebuyck in net for the Jets who saw Anthony Mantha try to be the first to score for the Red Wings. While Mantha had a scoring chance and missed, it pushed the Red Wings to pressure Hellebuyck but soon found themselves dealing with a penalty. Winnipeg went on the power play making them very dangerous as they’re ranked second in the league. Detroit did work to stop them which boost their confidence to stay ahead on shots on goal.

It produced good results as Justin Abdelkader made his mark to get Detroit out front at 10:42 for his fifth of the season. It got better for them as the Jets committed two penalties within five seconds of each other that gave the Red Wings a 5 on 3 advantage. Despite having eight shots to the net with none coming in, Detroit made it 2-0 shortly after where Gustav Nyquist got a much-needed goal for himself completing a pass play with a drive at Hellebuyck for his seventh and first since Nov.15.

The advantage of having two goals in the first period saw the Red Wings performing much better to dominate early and make the night difficult for their opponents. By the time the first period came to a close, it was clear that the Red Wings were very much in control of their emotions and their game as they outshot the Jets 16-3 with seven scoring chances in the first twenty minutes.

The Red Wings kept the heat on taking early shots in the period before getting another chance to add to their bottom line. A mistake by Dylan Larkin made it 4 on 4 but another two Detroit penalties gave the Jets a chance to get things going. At 6:25 and 22 seconds in, a full line play around the blue line ended with Patrick Laine scoring his 14th cutting the margin in half. It helped the Jets pick up the pace on shots at Howard with eight while the Red Wings had nine at the end of the second period.

The third began differently with a big shove that sent Brandon Tanev to the ice by Darren Helm who answered a massive hit he took from the elbow of Dustin Byfuglien earlier. Helm went to the box for interference putting the Jets on the power play two minutes into the period. After the Red Wings killed off the penalty, they turned things around to get pucks towards the Jets end and try to open ground. A shot from Jonathan Ericsson from behind the faceoff circle got plenty of air to hit Winnipeg’s Josh Morrisey and Nyquist but officials reviewed the call for hi sticking and was kept good.

Winnipeg coach Paul Maurice challenged the call due to interference between Gustav Nyquist and Josh Morrisey who both collided into Hellebuyck. Due to Morrisey’s contact with Nyquist to conduct the collision, officials kept the goal good giving Ericsson his second on the year. With the 3-1 lead, the Red Wings didn’t feel that it was enough to secure a win for themselves. At 8:25 a big turnover started with Helm coming off the bench to get the puck on the fly. He took off on his own, firing the puck top shelf for his fourth.

The goals kept coming for Detroit as they made it 5-1 on David Booth’s centering shot that was started by Andrea Athanasiou on a turnover. Booth got his third that suggested that Detroit was going to end their losing streak and prove that they could work as a team. It was becoming a rough night for the Jets who still had to endure nine more minutes of play despite finding more pucks to the net in the period than Detroit had.

With all their efforts, it was ultimately Detroit’s night as they played stellar defense while taking the Jets out of the game to begin a new homestand with a massive and much needed win. Howard handled things well with a very good performance against a strong team in the NHL. He made 25 saves on the night for a .962 save percentage and his first win since Nov. 17 against the Buffalo Sabres. “We started on time,” Howard said to Fox Sports Detroit reporter Matt Shepard. “We came out and we competed for sixty minutes and we were relentless. When we play like that we play well. I think it settled everyone down and we started on time and kept it together.”