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    • High-flying Jets score early, often to knock Wings, 6-2
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    High-flying Jets score early, often to knock Wings, 6-2

    Umito Posted on

    Detroit — The Red Wings found out Wednesday how well the Winnipeg Jets are playing these days.

    The Jets won their ninth game in the first 10 games this season, taking an early lead and ultimately beating the Wings, 6-2.

    The Jets took a 3-0 lead in the first period, saw the Wings fall back with two power play goals in the second period, but pulled away in the third period to push the Wings’ winless streak (4-5-1 ) with three games.

    “You can’t have games like that,” captain Dylan Larkin said. “Most of the forwards were passengers tonight. We didn’t help ourselves get the puck out. We can’t be outscored 5-0 (excluding special teams) at home, even against a good team with very strong forwards. “We gave them the puck too much and let them do what they wanted and it really exposed us.”

    Larkin and Alex DeBrincat scored power play goals in the second period – Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider had assists on both goals – to cut Winnipeg’s lead to 3-2.

    But Winnipeg’s Nino Niederreiter scored 10 seconds into the third period, and Neal Pionk scored his second goal of the night (third of the season), on the power play at 7:19, and Colin Miller scored his second goal just seconds after a Jets game. The power play expired at 10:25 to extend the lead to 6-2.

    Niederreiter’s goal was a crusher. He beat defenseman Jeff Petry to the puck in the corner, skated to the net and essentially pushed the puck through the Wings’ sticks and past goaltender Alex Lyon and off the skate of defenseman Ben Chiarot in the net.

    “It was tough to follow,” coach Derek Lalonde said. “As far as their identity goes, they frame a lot of shots along the yellow and get there on the forecheck. Just like he broke down, going through two of our sticks and through the goaltender’s stick goal and deep into the blue paint of our skate, it’s hard to watch.

    “(The power play) got us back in it, which makes the third period even more disappointing. You score those goals and we talked about improving our competition after the first (period) and you feel pretty good about the third one you feel the momentum and then it was a tough first goal against.”

    BOX SCORE: Jets 6, Red Wings 2

    Larkin’s one-timer off a pass from Raymond, Larkin’s fifth goal, cut the lead to 3-1 at 8:13. DeBrincat deflected a Raymond shot past goaltender Connor Hellebuyck (Commerce), DeBrincat’s fifth goal, at 17:40.

    Kyle Connor (Shelby Canton), Pionk and Gabriel Vilardi scored goals in Winnipeg’s big first period — Connor added two assists while extending his season-opening streak to 10 games — and Hellebuyck made 19 saves .

    “The three goals in the first period were just duels that we beat,” Lalonde said. “Two runs where we identified the right guy and the guy outplayed our guy to the net for an easy goal. And a faceoff goal, easy assignment and got beat to the net.”

    More: Olli Maatta trade opens door to bigger opportunities for Red Wings’ Albert Johansson

    Against a Jets team that doesn’t show many weaknesses, the mistakes were costly.

    “Definitely not as sharp as we should be to win games against the best teams,” forward JT Compher said. “When you’re not as sharp and you let the skills take over, and we gave them too much speed and too much space in the defensive zone, they were able to take advantage of that.”

    Wednesday’s loss ended the Wings’ first month of the season and first 10-game stretch with a 4-5-1 record. The schedule was tough, but the Wings weren’t entirely happy with how they played.

    “It was very up and down,” Larkin said. “We played some good teams and it would have been nice to finish this month with a point or two, but our details weren’t good enough. We focused on the start (of the season) and the Start wasn’t great, but we dug out of that hole and I’ll be excited and interested to see how we respond to this game, and really the last three games where we’ve given up points.

    Larkin believes the Wings are finding their identity and have areas in which they can improve.

    “We haven’t been very good on special teams and we haven’t won any battles,” Larkin said. “Our goalkeeping was good, that was a highlight. We didn’t score enough at five-on-five and we weren’t tough enough. You got a glimpse of it, but we didn’t been pretty tough on the other teams.

    “Everything is fixable and we have the personnel to do it. But we have to, like last year, understand what we are as a team and start gaining ground and playing for an identity.”

    Lalonde wants to see more physically.

    “We have a formula and a recipe for success,” Lalonde said. “We have to engage a little more in the battle. There is a formula, but we have to go harder.”

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