The Detroit Red Wings took a 4-2 victory from the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday night, winning their 4th consecutive game under coach Todd McLellan.
The Red Wings received goals from Dylan Larkin, Lucas Raymond, Alex DeBrincat and an empty-netter from Larkin as the team never relinquished its first-period, power-play lead, Raymond also had 2 assists, and Moritz Seider had 3 assists for the Wings, who were back-stopped to victory by Alex Lyon (23 saves).
Detroit will head home to entertain the Senators on Tuesday and the Blackhawks on Friday, so the Wings earn Sunday off as a “travel day”…
For the Jets, who lost defenseman Colin Miller to an injury and Josh Morrissey for a period of time due to a cut upper lip, losing their 3rd game in a row (0-2-and-1) and second to a team below the playoff cut line was worrisome, as they told the Winnipeg Sun’s Paul Friesen:
“Being around this league, throughout my career there’s never an easy two points in the NHL,” Morrissey said. “We just saw that. Two teams that are well below us in the standings, we gave up three out of four points. You have to find a way to get every point. Every point’s the same no matter who you’re playing.”
Going into this extensive stretch of home cooking, the smart money for the Jets to bank some wins would have been in the first few games: Anaheim, Detroit and Nashville are all seventh-place teams in their respective divisions.
Scoring the game’s first two goals didn’t pay off against the Ducks, and allowing the first two wasn’t a winning approach against the Red Wings, before 14,527 fans.
The third straight Winnipeg loss follows a four-game win streak and takes the Jets to the season’s mid-point with a 27-12-2 mark, not too shabby, but a few points off where they probably planned to be when they flipped the calendar to 2025.
“A great start,” head coach Scott Arniel called it. “We still have 41 to go, it’s still a lot of hockey. We put ourselves in a good spot right now, with a lot of work to go.”
Arniel mentioned a five-games-in-eight-days stretch as a factor the last two games, and Morrissey didn’t disagree.
“That’s where your margins for error are smaller, when maybe there’s some fatigue,” the defenceman said. “And that’s where we need special teams to step up … that can be the difference. Just little details in a game … we just need to find a way.”
Detroit went 2-for-3 on the power play, and held 2 Winnipeg power plays off the board.
The Red Wings did earn some “puck luck” in the form of four goalpost-hitting shots behind Alex Lyon, as WinnipegJets.com’s Jamie Thomas noted…
The Jets had plenty of chances to score tonight but hit iron three different times, Cole Perfetti and Logan Stanley in the first period and David Gustafsson in the third. Add Neal Pionk having the game winning goal go off his stick and in and you can see it simply wasn’t going to be a good night for Winnipeg.
“Yeah, a couple unfortunate bounces, hit a bunch of posts as a team. You beat the goalie, but you can’t beat the post,” said Cole Perfetti. “The effort was there. Sometimes you’re not going to get those bounces.”
And in terms of special teams, the Red Wings have a definitive edge right now:
Since the Red Wings made the change to Todd McLellan as their head coach, their power play has been lights out. Detroit was 6-for-13 (46.1%) in the four games since the coaching change including four power play goals the last two contests. Detroit opened the scoring on their second man advantage when Dylan Larkin ripped a shot past Connor Hellebuyck at 6:25 in the first. In the second period with Winnipeg starting to take back some momentum, Lucas Raymond’s shot went off Neal Pionk’s stick and into the net for a 2-0 lead.
The Winnipeg Free Press’s Mike McIntyre noted that the first period was the Jets’ undoing:
It was quite the high-event first period, with the Jets looking to rebound following a disappointing 4-3 overtime loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday night to kick off a season-long eight-game homestand.
Some poor puck management led to a Morrissey hooking penalty just 1:58 into the game. Winnipeg killed it off, only to lose Morrissey for a spell shortly after he stepped out of the box and got hit with a puck.
“It doesn’t feel great,” said Morrissey, who required at least eight stitches.
While he was getting repairs, Alex Iafallo was given a rare “throwing equipment” minor after he picked up teammate Vlad Namestnikov’s loose stick and tried to toss it his way, which is a no-no under NHL rules.
Dylan Larkin then opened the scoring on the subsequent man advantage as he was given plenty of time and space to rip a shot past Hellebuyck. At that point, just 6:25 into the game, the Jets were being outshot 8-1.
The Jets felt that they were slighted by the goalpost opportunities, however…
“Obviously if some of those go in, a different game,” said Morrissey. “But there’s posts every game. Sometimes you’re on the right side of it, sometimes you’re on the wrong.”
And Jets coach Scott Arniel insisted that the Red Wings were out-played in the 2nd and 3rd periods:
“There were a lot of things happening in that first period, (and) it got us out of whack,” said Arniel. “We took over the second and we took over the third, there were a lot of chances. We outchanced them. We had chances. We had some posts, we had some looks, but at the end of the day they came out on top.”
While Morrissey told NHL.com’s Darrin Bauming that the Jets would reset…
“There’s never an easy two points in the NHL,” Morrissey said. “Every point’s the same no matter who you’re playing, of course. And for us, [the] focus is, ‘OK, we’ve got one game in (the next) five days here.’ It’ll give us a chance to rest, recover and get some practice time and actually utilize this homestand. So we need to come out with a good start, a better start than we had tonight, and just continue to be who we are and who we’ve been through the first 40 games. When we do that, we’re a really good hockey team.”
The Red Wings spoke positively about their experiences at the Canada Life Centre:
“It’s a big win for sure,” Raymond said. “I feel like we’ve played some really good hockey lately and we continued that tonight. Obviously, they’re a great team and they put us under pressure, but we kind of weathered that and got going.”
Dylan Larkin scored twice, and Moritz Seider had three assists for the Red Wings (17-18-4). Patrick Kane had two assists, and Alex Lyon made 21 saves.
“The belief system has grown,” said Detroit coach Todd McLellan, whose team is 4-1-0 since he replaced Derek Lalonde on Dec. 26. “It’s got stronger over the last 10 days, which is essential. You can’t play without that. Structurally we’ve adjusted a few things, but we can do all of that. Unless you have a receptive classroom and players that are willing to either change or learn, you have no chance. And give the players credit for, all of them, moving the train forward, if you will.”
The Red Wings are figuring out that out-shooting their opponents pays off…
“We’re getting high shot volume,” Raymond said. “I think just realizing what that creates. Loose pucks off of shots and getting their [defensemen] and forwards to turn, I think that creates a lot, and being able to retrieve pucks and get it to the net.”
And having a functioning penalty-kill helps, too!
Detroit went 2-for-2 on the penalty kill against Winnipeg’s NHL-best power play (31.5 percent). The Red Wings are 10-for-13 (76.9 percent) on the kill in five games under McClellan; they were 64-for-93 (68.8 percent) in 34 games under Lalonde.
“Joining the group that’s here, the focus went on penalty-killing,” McLellan said. “The power play was doing a pretty good job, there hasn’t been many tweaks there, a few things we’ve talked about. But certainly the penalty kill has been a total rebound. … When you win the special teams battle in this league, you have a real good chance at success.”
But the Red Wings understand that they’re only as good as their most recent game:
“We’ve got to keep it rolling,” Lyon said. “Whether we win or we lose we have to play the right way. Fortunately we got the win tonight.”
Raymond told the Canadian Press that the PK has indeed been a focus for the team…
“We knew coming into the game that they have a really good power play, best in the league, so penalty kill was a huge part,” Raymond said. “And we were able to get two on the power play, so good game.”
Nikolaj Ehlers, with 3:15 remaining in the third, scored for the Jets, who got blanked on their two power-play chances.
Connor Hellebuyck stopped 25 of the 28 shots he faced and was held at 299 career wins for the second game in a row.
“Certainly the penalty kill has been a total rebound,” said Detroit head coach Todd McLellan, who took over the team after the Christmas break and has guided it to a 4-1-0 record.
“Winnipeg didn’t get many opportunities, but when they did we held our ground, we did our jobs … and Alex made saves when he needed to make them. So when you win the special teams battle in this league, you have a real good chance at success.”
As Detroit Hockey Now’s Tim Robinson noted, the Wings weren’t necessarily crediting luck for the bounces going their way…
‘We had a real good checking mentality, especially in the first (and) put them back on their heels a little bit, ” McLellan said. “After that, we played pretty good positionally. We bent, we didn’t break. We needed some saves, and caught all of those. Proud of the guys. They worked hard. They deserved the win tonight.”
It was the Red Wings’ first win in Winnipeg in five tries.
Alex Lyon got the win in net, stopping 21 of 23 shots and getting some puck luck with four shots hitting the goal posts.
“I don’t think they had that much to shoot at, to be honest with you, I forced them to hit posts,” Lyon joked, then turned serious. “Now, sometimes you’re lucky, and sometimes it goes the other way, and and it’s just how it goes.”
And Alex Lyon broke out a Blashill-ism while speaking with FanDuel Sports Network Detroit after the game, as the Detroit News’s Ted Kuflan noted:
Dylan Larkin (15th goal) and Lucas Raymond (16th goal) scored power-play goals, Alex DeBrincat (17th goal) added a big third-period goal and Larkin scored his 16th with an empty-net goal that clinched the victory. Goaltender Alex Lyon made 21 saves to earn the win against likely Vezina Trophy (best goaltender) favorite Connor Hellebuyck (Commerce Township), Lyon’s sixth win in his last seven decisions.
“We’re just playing the right way,” Lyon told FDSN. “Doing things the right way and playing the right way and just keep trucking along, and this is the best way to do it.”
For the Red Wings, this was a “measuring stick” game, and they measured up, as they told FDSN…
“It’s a great win for sure,” Raymond told FDSN. “We’ve played some real good hockey lately and continued it. They’re a great team and put pressure, but we weathered it.”
Lyon reiterated his point of emphasis while speaking with DetroitRedWings.com’s Jonathan Mills:
“We got to keep it rolling,” Lyon said. “Whether we win or lose, we’re set out to play the right way and fortunately, we got the win tonight against a very good team. It feels good, but we just got a lot more work to do. Enjoy it for a little bit and move on.”
Winnipeg is home of the world’s largest rail yard, and home of Canada’s life insurance companies, but it’s Detroit that’s finding a new lease on life while moving slowly forward:
McLellan on how his club is playing coming out of the NHL’s holiday break
“The belief system has grown. It’s got stronger over the last 10 days, which is essential. Structurally, we’ve adjusted a few things. We can do all of that, but unless you have a receptive classroom and players that are willing to change or learn, you have no chance. I give the players credit for moving the train forward, if you will.”
Raymond on the penalty kill’s performance
“It’s huge, right? We knew coming into the game that they have a really good power play — the best in the league. Penalty kill was a huge part and able to get two on the power play. Good game.”
Choo-choo.
Multimedia:
Highlights: NHL.com posted a 10:26 highlight clip:
Sportsnet posted a 10:07 highlight clip:
Post-game: The Jets’ website posted clips of Cole Perfetti, Josh Morrissey and coach Scott Arniel;
The Red Wings posted a clip of Lucas Raymond, Alex Lyon and coach Todd McLellan’s post-game comments:
These come from Paul Kukla of Kukla’s Korner:
"A light has been brought back to our team."
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) January 5, 2025
Dylan Larkin chats with @snseanreynolds following the Red Wings fourth straight win in five games under their new head coach, Todd McLellan. pic.twitter.com/OoNHXReTzr
"A light has been brought back to our team."
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) January 5, 2025
Dylan Larkin chats with @snseanreynolds following the Red Wings fourth straight win in five games under their new head coach, Todd McLellan. pic.twitter.com/OoNHXReTzr
Photos: The Free Press posted a 7-image gallery.
Statistics: Here are the Game Summary and Event Summary:
