By @StefanKubus –
DETROIT – Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg put it in perspective: The Wings need to “start playing playoff hockey a little earlier” than the usual start date.
Detroit provided an example of that Thursday night, as the team dug itself out of a 2-0 hole to win 3-2 over the Winnipeg Jets at Joe Louis Arena. Dylan Larkin scored his 20th of the season, Jonathan Ericsson potted his third of the year and Justin Abdelkader scored the third-period game-winning goal. Petr Mrazek notched his 25th win of the season, stopping 23 of 25 shots.
PHOTOS: Red Wings beat Jets Thursday at The Joe
“You’ve gotta have poise,” Red Wings head coach Jeff Blashill said. “We talked this morning, the game wasn’t going to be over after 20 minutes, no matter how it went. It wasn’t going to be over after 40 minutes, after 60 or 65 or whatever it takes. You have to stay calm. I thought our guys came out ready to play. We got put on our heels a little bit, but that happens. That’s the ebb and flow of hockey.
“I thought our guys showed unbelievable compete level. I thought our compete level was awesome.”
Blashill said he was never concerned with Mrazek’s game despite the skid he had been on.
“I don’t ever worry about Petr’s mental makeup. I’ve seen him come back time and time and time again I’ve been with him a long time.”
With just under nine minutes to play in the opening frame, Mathieu Perreault beat Kyle Quincey to a puck behind the Detroit goal, spun around and quickly fed a backhand pass to an uncovered Marko Dano, who buried the game’s opening goal. The goal also marked Dano’s first as a Jet since being dealt in the Andrew Ladd deal prior to the trade deadline.
Jets defenseman Tyler Myers walked down the left side in the Detroit zone with 3:29 left in the period and undressed Henrik Zetterberg before snapping home his eighth of the season to give Winnipeg a 2-0 advantage heading off the ice after 20 minutes.
But the Red Wings took over in the middle frame, as Detroit struck twice to even things up.
First, Larkin potted his 20th of the season, breaking out of a seven-game pointless streak in the process. After Zetterberg and Abdelkader won a puck battle in the corner, Abdelkader found Larkin in front who one-timed the pass from the slot and beat Hutchinson. Larkin became the Wings’ first rookie 20-goal scorer since Zetterberg did so in 2002-03.
“That was a goal of mine coming into this year,” Larkin said of the 20-goal mark. “What’s better for me is what’s next and maybe 25 so there’s always more and I think I want that for myself and for our team to be successful.”
At 12:25, Ericsson added his third of the season, as he drifted down the left side of the Jets’ zone and threw a puck on goal that bounced off a Winnipeg skate in front and in the net.
That set up a decisive third period, where it was the Wings who persisted.
With just over four minutes to play, Tomas Tatar read Tyler Myers and picked off his pass behind the Winnipeg net and shipped a feed out to Abdelkader in the high slot, and he sniped one in the far corner to beat Hutchinson and give Detroit the 3-2 advantage.
With Zetterberg in the box late for slashing, the Wings faced a daunting penalty kill – 6-on-4 with Hutchinson pulled for the extra attacker – to end the game, but managed to hold on for a crucial two points.
“We’ve been in this and we know how to do it, just gotta start playing playoff hockey a little earlier and we’re doing that right now,” Zetterberg said.
Detroit hosts the New York Rangers Saturday afternoon, where all-star netminder Henrik Lundqvist is expected to return from injury and play.
Notes: Jacob Trouba (Rochester native, University of Michigan alum) finished the game a plus-2, played a game-high 28:04 and recorded one shot on goal, three hits and seven blocks… In his first game at Joe Louis Arena as a pro, Andrew Copp (Ann Arbor native, University of Michigan alum) recorded three hits and two blocks in 7:52 of ice time… Copp and Trouba both started the game for the Jets.