Zetterberg lifts Red Wings over Jets in SO
WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- The Detroit Red Wings took half the game to find their legs but once they did, it was bad news for the Winnipeg Jets as the visitors erased a two-goal deficit to post a 4-3 shootout win on Tuesday night.
Detroit captain Henrik Zetterberg scored the winning goal in the shootout.
The win improved the Red Wings' record to 13-11-3 for 29 points, while the Jets fell to 13-13-3 for 29 points.
Petr Mrazek made 31 saves for Detroit and stopped three of four shots in the shootout.
The Jets opened the scoring at 6:41 of the first period when left winger Andrew Copp, who scored the winning goal two nights ago in Chicago, notched his fourth of the season by tipping a point shot from defenseman Ben Chiarot past Mrazek.
But before the public address announcer was finished reporting the goal, the Red Wings caught the Jets scrambling in their own zone. Goalie Connor Hellebuyck steered a soft rebound onto the stick of left winger Tomas Tatar, who scored his fourth -- and unquestionably easiest -- goal of the season into an empty net at 7:05.
The Jets, led by rookie phenom Patrik Laine, wasted no time in taking control of the period from that point on. Laine can also dish the puck as he waited out Red Wings defenseman Jonathan Ericsson on a 2-on-1 with Dustin Byfuglien and deposited a saucer pass on the big defenseman's stick. Byfulien promptly ripped his third of the season over Mrazek's blocker at 11:22.
And in the "you've-got-to-be-good-to-be-lucky" category, Laine potted his 17th of the season when his wrist shot deflected off a stick and, while heading wide of the net, ricocheted off defenseman Mike Green's upper body and behind Mzarek at 13:06.
Laine is tied with Pittsburgh center Sidney Crosby for the league lead.
The Red Wings pulled within one midway through the second period after Jets defenseman Toby Enstrom fanned on a clearing attempt and put the puck right on Detroit center Dylan Larkin's stick. He passed to right winger Anthony Mantha, who snapped it high over Hellebuyck at 10:59. The assist was Larkin's first helper since opening night.
Detroit tied it up just a few minutes later when right winger Thomas Vanek deflected a cross-ice pass from Xavier Ouellet on the right point over Hellebuyck's blocker at 17:52.
NOTES: The Jets played their third consecutive game without their leading scorer, C Mark Scheifele, who is day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Joining him in the press box were LW Kyle Connor and D Mark Stuart. ... Healthy scratches for the Red Wings were D Ryan Sproul and LW Tomas Nosek. ... The Jets' power play went 3 of 7 in the previous three games, 42.9 percent, well ahead of its 16 percent success rate for the entire season. ... The Red Wings made just their fourth trip to Winnipeg since the Jets relocated in 2011. ... Red Wings LW Henrik Zetterberg is seventh on the franchise's all-time goal-scoring list with 315, just nine behind Norm Ullman in sixth place. Gordie Howe is No. 1 with 786.