Jets fall to Red Wings 4-2

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This article was published 04/01/2025 (249 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

How much were the Winnipeg Jets fighting the puck on Saturday night as they faced the Detroit Red Wings? Let us count the many painful ways.

Josh Morrissey took an early shot to the face and was left bloodied, while Colin Miller was forced out of the game after getting hit in the throat. To add insult to injury, Cole Perfetti hit iron twice, while Logan Stanley and David Gustafsson each put one off the pipe as the Jets struggled to generate offence.

Meanwhile, Red Wings forward Lucas Raymond had his one-timer hit the stick of Jets defenceman Neal Pionk to beat a surprised Connor Hellebuyck, and then Alex DeBrincat scored the game-winner when Patrick Kane’s pass attempt hit either his stick or skate — or maybe both — and ended up in the back of the Winnipeg net.

Yeah, it was that kind of night at Canada Life Centre, where the home team ultimately fell 4-2 in front of 14,527 fans.

“Sometimes you’re not going to get those bounces,” said Perfetti.

Of course, a valid argument can be made that the Jets didn’t do nearly enough on the night to create their good fortune, especially while facing a team that was 20 points behind them in the standings when play began.

“Being around this league, throughout my career there’s never an easy two points in the NHL. We just saw that, obviously,” said Morrissey.

Winnipeg is now winless in the last three (0-2-1) and 27-12-2 overall as they hit the midway mark of the 82-game regular-season schedule. Detroit improves to 17-18-4, including four straight victories under new head coach Todd McLellan.

Let’s break this one down further:

FRANTIC FIRST

It was quite the high-event first period, with the Jets looking to rebound following a disappointing 4-3 overtime loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday night to kick off a season-long eight-game homestand.

Some poor puck management led to a Morrissey hooking penalty just 1:58 into the game. Winnipeg killed it off, only to lose Morrissey for a spell shortly after he stepped out of the box and got hit with a puck.

“It doesn’t feel great,” said Morrissey, who required at least eight stitches.

While he was getting repairs, Alex Iafallo was given a rare “throwing equipment” minor after he picked up teammate Vlad Namestnikov’s loose stick and tried to toss it his way, which is a no-no under NHL rules.

Dylan Larkin then opened the scoring on the subsequent man advantage as he was given plenty of time and space to rip a shot past Hellebuyck. At that point, just 6:25 into the game, the Jets were being outshot 8-1.

“I didn’t love our start, obviously,” said Morrissey. “We get behind the eight-ball with a couple of penalties early. It kind of takes a little bit of flow out of the game there for the forward lines and the D.”

It got worse. Although Morrissey returned to action later in the frame, Miller suffered a scary injury when a re-directed Detroit shot struck him in the neck. He immediately skated off the ice in distress, then went down on one knee in the tunnel area as trainers came to his aid.

“Pretty serious. We’ll just wait and see,” head coach Scott Arniel said following the game. “He’s got to get looked at here a little bit more and then we’ll have a little bit more of an idea (on Sunday).”

That left the Jets with just five blue-liners the rest of the night.

STABILIZING SECOND

It wasn’t a banner start to the middle frame, either, as Jets forward David Gustafsson took a tripping penalty and Raymond extended the Detroit lead to 2-0 on the ensuing power play at 4:33.

But the Jets began to carry the play, and Morrissey quickly cut the deficit in half just 65 seconds later as his slap shot went through a maze of traffic and beat Alex Lyon.

There were plenty of other good chances, too, with the Jets outshooting the Red Wings 10-3 (after being outshot 17-7 in the first). But both Lyon and the iron behind him had other ideas.

“Obviously if some of those go in, a different game,” said Morrissey. “But there’s posts every game. Sometimes you’re on the right side of it, sometimes you’re on the wrong.”

“We created lots, and after the first period we didn’t really give up too too much.”–Cole Perfetti

Arniel got the line blender out in an attempt to spark his sleepy club, breaking up the top line of Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor and Gabe Vilardi for a spell. Nikolaj Ehlers took Vilardi’s spot, while Vilardi moved down to play with Perfetti and captain Adam Lowry, who had swapped spots with Namestnikov to centre the second line.

That left Namestnikov, Iafallo and Nino Niederreiter as the third line.

“I thought it was good. We created lots, and after the first period we didn’t really give up too too much,” said Perfetti.

“That’s the strength of our team, our depth and our ability to have different guys play with different guys all the time. From top to bottom there’s a lot of talent and a lot of playmaking ability.”

COMEBACK INCOMPLETE

DeBrincat restored the two-goal buffer with the re-direct at 7:14 of the third period on a play where young defenceman Ville Heinola failed to tie up the Red Wings winger.

The Jets didn’t go quietly, with Ehlers tipping a Pionk shot with 3:15 left in regulation to bring them back within one.

Winnipeg had several more quality looks once Hellebuyck was pulled for an extra attacker, but Larkin would thwart the comeback attempt by scoring into an empty net with 29 seconds left in regulation.

“There were a lot of things happening in that first period, (and) it got us out of whack,” said Arniel.

“We took over the second and we took over the third, there were a lot of chances. We outchanced them. We had chances. We had some posts, we had some looks, but at the end of the day they came out on top.”

Arniel cited his team’s busy run— Saturday was their fifth game in eight days — as a potential factor in this recent swoon, which began with a New Year’s Eve loss in Colorado and has now included back-to-back setbacks against teams well out of playoff spots in Anaheim and Detroit.

“I have never used the schedule as an excuse,” said Arniel in explaining some of his juggling.

“(But) we had some guys that were a little bit tired or fatigued and I was trying to use everybody and get guys their rest between shifts and then throw them back out when they’re ready to go.”

KEY PLAY

The Patrick Kane to Alex DeBrincat play that produced the game-winning goal in the final frame.

THREE STARS

1. Detroit LW Lucas Raymond: 1 goal, 2 assists.
2. Detroit D Moritz Seider: 3 assists.
3. Detroit C Dylan Larkin: 2 goals.

EXTRA, EXTRA

The Jets lost the special teams battle in this one, going 0-for-2 on the power play and killing off just 1-of-3 penalties.

Hellebuyck finished the game with 25 saves on 28 shots and remains one win short of becoming just the 30th goalie in NHL history with at least 300 wins and 40 shutouts. Lyon turned aside 21 of 23 pucks that came his way.

Jets’ healthy scratches were once again defenceman Dylan Coghlan and forward Dominic Toninato. Defencemen Dylan Samberg and Haydn Fleury and forward Mason Appleton are all currently on the injured list.

The Jets will return to practice on Monday to get ready to face the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night — which is their only game in a five-day span.

“It’ll give us a chance to rest, recover and get some practice time and actually utilize this homestand,” said Morrissey.

“So we need to come out with a good start, a better start than we had (Saturday night), obviously, and just continue to be who we are and who we’ve been through the first 40 games. When we do that, we’re a really good hockey team.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

X and Bluesky: @mikemcintyrewpg