Jets at Red Wings
The Winnipeg Jets are not happy with falling behind by multiple goals in back-to-back games, but are encouraged as they travel to Detroit on Friday to face a Red Wings team off to its worst start in 33 years. The Jets offensive firepower garners plenty of headlines, but while a frantic rally from a 3-1 deficit rescued them Monday against St. Louis, a 3-0 gap Wednesday against Toronto proved too much to overcome in a 4-2 defeat as Winnipeg.
“I’m more concerned with our defending than anything else,” Jets coach Paul Maurice told the media after the game, in which third-period goals from Mark Scheifele and Nikolaj Ehlers two minutes apart pulled the Jets within one goal. “The turnovers in our end of the ice, those things are going to happen, but if you’re unable to recover from those, you have a bigger problem.” There are plenty of problems in Detroit, where the Red Wings have lost eight of their first nine games for the first time since 1985-86. Detroit gave up a staggering 21 shots in the first period Monday against Carolina - matching the total shots the Red Wings mustered for the entire game - in a 3-1 loss. “That was 100 percent inexcusable,” Detroit coach Jeff Blashill told reporters afterward. “When you oversleep, it takes you a long time to get moving, and it took us two periods to get going.”
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, NHL Network, TSN3 (Winnipeg), FS Detroit
ABOUT THE JETS (6-3-1): Forward Blake Wheeler extended his point streak to four games (one goal, four assists) with a pair of assists in the loss to Toronto. While defensively the Jets are struggling, Winnipeg does lead the NHL with 17 third-period goals, and finished its six-game homestand at 38.9 percent on the power play. Ehlers’ goal snapped a 26-game goal drought (including 15 playoff games last spring) and came after he was moved to left wing on the Jets’ top line in the third period.
ABOUT THE RED WINGS (1-6-2): Center Andreas Athanasiou scored his third goal in nine games for Detroit’s lone tally Monday, the only offense for a team ranked in the bottom five of the league in shots per game (28). Things are not good defensively, either, as the Red Wings are allowing an NHL-worst 4.22 goals per contest through Wednesday. Goaltender Jimmy Howard did well to only allow three goals considering he faced 36 shots in the opening two periods (making 34 saves in the first 40 minutes).
OVERTIME
1. Detroit C Jacob de la Rose, claimed off waivers Oct. 17, is expected to make his season debut Friday.
2. Friday kicks off a four-game road trip for the Jets that takes them to Toronto on Saturday, and then to Helsinki, Finland, for back-to-back games against Florida on Nov. 1-2.
3. Winnipeg D Dustin Byfuglien needs one point to reach 500 for his career.