Detroit Red Wings clobber Edmonton 5-0 as Oilers suffer fifth straight loss

EDMONTON - Petr Mrazek was called on to make just 14 saves to earn his first career shutout in his third NHL game as the Detroit Red Wings won their third straight game in four nights, defeating the Edmonton Oilers 5-0 on Saturday.

Tomas Tatar, Darren Helm, Jakub Kindl, Joakim Andersson and Todd Bertuzzi scored for the Red Wings (9-4-2) who have gone 3-1-2 in their last six games.

Helm was playing his first game of the season and only his third since March 2012 due to a myriad of injury woes.

The Oilers (3-10-2) are in the midst of yet another disappointing season, now with five consecutive losses before heading out on a four-game trip.

Edmonton has been shut out in its last two home games.

Detroit staked itself an early 2-0 lead on goals just 27 seconds apart five minutes into the contest.

An Edmonton miscue allowed Daniel Cleary to send Helm in on a breakaway and he managed to beat Oilers goalie Richard Bachman through the legs, scoring in his first game this season as he made his return from a groin injury.

Less than 30 seconds later it was a two-goal Wings lead as Bachman allowed a big rebound on an Andersson shot and Tatar was there to pounce on it for his third of the year.

Bachman injured his groin lunging for a puck with six minutes to play in the opening frame and had to be helped off the ice. Backup Jason LaBarbera came in to take his place in the Edmonton net.

Detroit made it 3-0 seven minutes into the second period as Daniel Alfredsson dished the puck to Kindl at the top of the right face-off circle and he unleashed a howitzer of a shot that blew past LaBarbera.

The Red Wings outshot the Oilers 21-10 through the first 40 minutes.

Detroit went up by four goals eight minutes into the third period as a wrap-around attempt popped free in front of the net and Andersson was there to pounce on it and score his second of the season.

Two minutes late it was 5-0 as Henrik Zetterberg hooked behind the net on the power play and fed it to Bertuzzi at the backdoor. Bertuzzi's 21 career goals against Edmonton are the most he has scored in his career against any team.

The Red Wings wrap up a four-game Western Canada swing in Winnipeg on Monday. Edmonton begins a four-game trip in Florida against the Panthers on Tuesday.

Notes: Now that Detroit has switched conferences, the game was the first of only two meetings between the Oilers and Red Wings this season. Detroit won all three meetings last season and came into the game with a 6-0-5 in its previous 11 visits to Edmonton ... With Jonas Gustavsson out with a neck injury, 21-year-old goalie Mrazek got his first start of the season and just third of his NHL career. Normal starter Jimmy Howard was being spelled after playing on Friday night against Calgary ... Edmonton third-string goalie Bachman got his third consecutive start in net for the Oilers, despite Devan Dubnyk being ready to return from an ankle injury. Bachman had a 2.40 goals-against average in his first two games ... Edmonton defenceman Justin Schultz was out with a groin injury and forward David Perron missed his second contest with a neck injury. Coming to replace them in the lineup were defenceman Philip Larsen, who made his Oilers debut and forward Ryan Hamilton, who returned for the first time since suffering a knee injury on October 7 ... Remaining on the Oilers lengthy list of injured players were forwards Jesse Joensuu (undisclosed), Ryan Smyth (groin), Tyler Pitlick (knee) and Taylor Hall (knee), who has at least started skating ... Red Wings forward Johan Franzen (illness) left the game in Calgary and was not able to recover enough to play the Oilers. Also out for Detroit was Jonathan Ericsson (shoulder) ... The Red Wings' top six scorers this season range in age from 33 to 41 years old.