Red Wings 1, Jets 4: Hellebuyck Denies Detroit

Detroit, MI—On Thursday night at Little Caesars Arena, the Detroit Red Wings fell 4-1 to the Winnipeg Jets, snapping a six-game point streak.

The Red Wings fell behind 2-0 on goals just 1:02 apart in a first period in which Detroit had to kill off three minor penalties.  From that point forward, the Red Wings carried play for long stretches but, with one exception, couldn't solve the cipher that was Connor Hellebuyck in the Winnipeg crease.  The Commerce Township native stopped 35 of the 36 shots that Detroit sent his way.

"I don't think our process was off tonight," said Derek Lalonde after the game.  "Probably didn't have enough energy throughout.  We had pushes, but it wasn't push, push, push the whole time.  And Hellebuyck—that was probably the number one difference in this game."

After too many trips to the box derailed the Red Wings' first period and Nikolaj Ehlers and Kyle Connor put the Jets up 2-0, Lucas Raymond offered a preview of the potential path back early in the second period.  It's not just that Raymond scored but rather the manner in which he did so that might have offered a clue into unlocking Hellebuyck.  

The play was simple: At the end of an extended stay in the Winnipeg zone, Dylan Larkin fired a harmless-looking shot on goal.  Hellebuyck deadened the initial volley, but there was Raymond, providing a screen on the initial shot then depositing the rebound home on his backhand as he dropped to his knees.

Lalonde explained that it was the precise sort of traffic at the net the Red Wings needed to beat a goaltender as sharp as Hellebuyck.

 "As good as [Hellebuyck] was, we just didn't do enough to make it harder on him," the second-year head coach said.  "Even our one goal for, give Razor credit, he was committed to going right to the net, and he finishes off a rebound from being right on top of that blue paint.  Any good goalie, you need to crowd em, you need to take away his space."

With 36 minutes and 42 seconds to play, the Red Wings appeared in hot pursuit of a comeback with plenty of time to work.  However, Hellebuyck and the Jets never yielded.

According to David Perron, Detroit did not do a good enough job of following Raymond and the rest of the top line's example throughout the evening.

"We got the Larks, Razor, and Cat line that create all kinds of chances in many ways—rush, cycle, all that stuff," said the veteran Quebecois winger.  "I think the other lines, we can do a better job at having more mentality to work the puck behind the net and then create momentum that way, if not goals then chances.  You see a line like Lowry's tonight—that's what they did all night to us.  It wasn't easy."

Raymond's goal did seem to awaken something in the Red Wings, who enjoyed much more of a territorial advantage in the second and third than they had in the first.  While the Larkin line might have set that tone, they weren't the only ones involved in the effort.

In the third period, Detroit ratcheted up that pressure—seeming to camp out in the Jets' zone for prolonged stretches—but still Hellebuyck had an answer to each question the Red Wings asked of him.  The shots would finish 19-7 in the Red Wings' favor by period's end.

However, just as Detroit's comeback bid intensified, it dissipated on a single well-executed counter-attack from Winnipeg.  

The play begin in the Jets' zone with Adam Lowry guiding his team out of danger, before playing a diagonal pass ahead for Nino Niederreiter, who gained the offensive zone.  Niederreiter returned the feed for Lowry, and Red Wings' goaltender James Reimer was caught over-committing toward the Jets' captain.  

Lowry found Mason Appleton crashing the net for a tap-in, with Reimer having slid his way out of the crease and out of the play.  The Jets led 3-1 with the clock showing 9:34 to play.

Appleton's shot represented was the one of just three pucks Winnipeg put on goal in the game's final ten minutes.  The second came about three minutes later, a harmless long-range wrister off the stick of Ehlers.  The final one brought about the death knell for Detroit—Niederreiter striking the empty net (with an assist from Appleton) to cinch a 4-1 Winnipeg win with 1:02 to play.

Alex DeBrincat—who had failed to score at home for the first time as a Red Wing—broke his stick across the crossbar in frustration.  It had been that type of night for Detroit, a decidedly different tone and tenor from all of the team's preceding contests.

Where the Red Wings had been able to snatch victories despite middling performances at five-on-five against teams like Pittsburgh and Ottawa thanks to lethal finishing and a scorching power play, Hellebuyck ensured that his team would leave his home state with two points, even as Detroit was the more dangerous team for most of the night.

There's nothing to be done about those two bygone points now, so the question becomes how will the Red Wings respond to the first losing streak of the season?

"We're 0-1-1 in our last two, and you want to find ways to not get extended streaks like that," said Lalonde.  "It's gonna be a good test to see how we react," added Perron.  "It wasn't gonna be smooth sailing the whole time, so I think that's the part for me that—you get excited as you get older to find ways through these times."

It won't be an easy bounce back spot, with the Red Wings returning to action Saturday night on the road against the Atlantic-leading Boston Bruins and reigning Vezina Trophy winner Linus Ullmark.

Detroit got a taste of adversity in Tuesday's game against Seattle in a valiant comeback turned OT defeat, and now that taste has escalated to mouthful.  

All the same, If the Red Wings are serious about pushing for a long-awaited return to the postseason, they would be well-served to heed Lalonde's advice and make certain the skid halts at two.  

After all, as Lalonde said in reference to the Eastern Conference playoff race before his team's home opener against the Lightning, "I think you're going to find nobody's coming down to us, so we have to get to them."  The Red Wings will have a chance to do just that against the reigning Presidents' Trophy winners and the NHL's only team yet to lose in regulation on Saturday at T.D. Garden in Boston.