In Detroit, Connor Hellebuyck made 35 saves, and the Winnipeg Jets downed the Red Wings, 4-1, on Thursday night.
“[Hellebuyck] has really been going the last couple games, and this is like a home game for him,” Jets associate coach Scott Arniel said. “He looked rock solid out there and he made the stops when we needed them, certainly in the last 10 minutes.”
The Jets took a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals from Nikolaj Ehlers and Kyle Connor.
“We know we’re going to get 100 percent from him [Hellebuyck] in every game,” Winnipeg forward Ehlers said. “It was pretty awesome to see him play like that in front of his friends and family.”
Lucas Raymond was the lone striker for the Red Wings, his second period goal trimmed the Detroit deficit to 2-1.
“I don’t think our process was off tonight; we probably didn’t have enough energy,” Detroit coach Derek Lalonde said. “We had some pushes, but it wasn’t a steady push all the time.
“Hellebuyck was probably the No. 1 difference in the game, and our goalie was pretty good.”
Mason Appleton and Nino Niederreiter scored in the third period for the 4-*1 final.
“This is huge, because you know how we started the season and we were just staring at our record like, ‘Dang, I can’t believe this is where we are,’” Appleton said. “You overanalyze early in the season, and maybe we did that, but now we’re heating up.”
Detroit had 19 shots in the third period.
“They really jumped on us in the second and third, but we defended hard and weathered the storm,” Appleton said. “I think the [third] goal took the wind out of their sails a bit.”
James Reimer made 25 saves in the loss.
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