Oilers break out in win vs. Wings
DETROIT -- Jujhar Khaira's second-period goal, his fourth point in as many games, proved to be the winner as the Edmonton Oilers downed the Detroit Red Wings 6-2 on Wednesday.
Patrick Maroon, Darnell Nurse, Jesse Puljujarvi, Drake Caggiula and Mark Letestu also scored for the Oilers (8-12-2), who ended a three-game losing streak.
Tomas Tatar and Niklas Kronwall scored for the Wings (10-9-3), who have dropped two in a row and finished 2-1-2 on a five-game homestand.
The Oilers were penalized for too many men at 6:14 and the Wings capitalized with the man advantage to open the scoring. Henrik Zetterberg fed across ice to Tatar and he wired a quick shot past Edmonton goalie Cam Talbot (20 saves) at 7:25.
Exactly one minute later, the Oilers tied it when Nurse's point shot found its way through traffic and by Wings netminder Jimmy Howard (15 saves).
Edmonton went ahead at 11:05 when Maroon took Leon Draisaitl's feed and slipped a backhander through Howard's legs.
It was tied again at 18:25. Kronwall's shot from along the boards deflected off Edmonton's Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and over Talbot's shoulder into the net.
The Oilers reclaimed the lead 10:24 into the second period when Khaira snapped a low wrist shot past Howard.
Howard's night ended at 14:22 when he failed to control the rebound of a low slap shot by Mike Cammalleri and Letestu drove the rebound into the net. Petr Mrazek (seven saves) took over in the Detroit net.
The second shot faced by Mrazek also ended up in the net when Caggiula converted a drop pass from Connor McDavid at 18:16.
Puljujarvi's tally at 18:55 of the third period completed the scoring.
NOTES: The next point for Wings C Frans Nielsen will be his 400th in the NHL. ... C Henrik Zetterberg's next point will move him into a tie for sixth with Pavel Datsyuk on the Wings' all-time scoring list at 918 points. ... Wings LW Tomas Tatar's next assist will be his 100th in the NHL. ... D/RW Luke Witkowski (NHL suspension), RW Martin Frk (groin) and LW David Booth were scratched by the Wings. ... Oilers scratches were D Ryan Stanton, D Eric Gryba and RW Iiro Pakarinen. ... Stanton was recalled earlier Wednesday from AHL Bakersfield. ... C Brad Malone was assigned to Bakersfield. ... Oilers C Mark Letestu played his 500th NHL game. ... The Oilers are 2-7-3 in their last 12 games at Detroit.