Red Wings cruise past Coyotes, win fourth straight

Anthony Mantha, Dennis Cholowski and Michael Rasmussen scored in less than eight minutes in the first period, and the Detroit Red Wings won their fourth straight game, 6-1 against the Arizona Coyotes at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Tuesday.

Jimmy Howard made 24 saves, and Mike Green had a goal and two assists for the Red Wings (8-8-2), who have gone 7-1-0 since starting the season 1-7-2.
"We're starting to get some momentum and find our identity," Green said. "If we can feed off that momentum and keep building, at the end of the day the most important thing is getting the win."
WATCH: [All Coyotes vs. Red Wings highlights]
Arizona defenseman Jakob Chychrun played for the first time since having right knee surgery in April, but the Coyotes (8-8-1) lost for the fourth time in five games (1-3-1) since winning five straight.
"We were slow. We were just a half step slow everywhere," Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet said. "When we did shoot, we were slow to shoot and they were blocking shots. … It was just lackluster by some guys who were a half second slow. It's something we've got to stamp out quick."

Luke Glendening scored in the second period, and Andreas Athanasiou and Green scored in the third to help Detroit take a 6-0 lead. The Red Wings trailed by multiple goals in each of their previous three games.
"When you can score, it makes life way better," Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. "It masks sometimes effort, it masks sometimes mistakes. … The best teams are the ones that find a way to score lots of goals."
Mantha scored on a shot under the crossbar to make it 1-0 at 10:13 of the first; it was his sixth goal and third in two games. Cholowski scored from the right face-off circle 2:11 later for a 2-0 lead at 12:24 as Justin Abdelkader screened goalie Darcy Kuemper.
"It's good for us to get that many goals and hopefully we can keep that going," Cholowski said. "We have a lot of skill. The first 10 games we were struggling to score, but we've ramped it up a bit and we're starting to fill the net."
The Red Wings have scored at least four goals in five of their past eight games.

Rasmussen scored in front on a 5-on-3 power play resulting from penalties nine seconds apart on Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Brad Richardson, making it 3-0 at 17:22 with Detroit's third goal in 7:09. It was the second road power-play allowed by Arizona this season.
Glendening and Athanasiou scored on breakaways immediately after Red Wings penalties expired. Glendening scored at 11:32 of the second to make it 4-0; Athanasiou's seventh goal of the season and third in three games made it 5-0 at 1:44 of the third.
Kuemper was replaced by rookie Hunter Miska after giving up five goals on 17 shots. Miska, who made eight saves in his NHL debut, allowed Green's goal at 7:10 of the third for a 6-0 Detroit lead.

"They kind of took it to us. We won the first five minutes but then we sat back and let them take over," said Chychrun, who had three shots and a blocked shot, and was minus-2 in 20:39 of ice time. "A big part of this game is being consistent in your work effort and your system and we weren't. We've got to make sure we stay focused and stay with the system."
Lawson Crouse made it 6-1 at 11:21 of the third.

They said it

"It's a long road (to recovery), but this is where I want to be, on the ice with the guys. I'm upset we didn't get this one, but forget about it and move forward." -- Coyotes defenseman Jakob Chychrun on being out seven months
"It was a tough first 10 (games of the season), but we've grown and learned a lot and we're getting comfortable with each other. We're playing good hockey and we've got to keep it going." -- Red Wings forward Michael Rasmussen

Need to know

Chychrun signed a
six-year contract
earlier Tuesday. He could have become a restricted free agent July 1. … The Coyotes went 1-2-1 on a four-game road trip. They their second five-game homestand in four weeks Thursday. … Athanasiou has nine points (five goals, four assists) in his past seven games. … Kuemper made his fifth consecutive start with No. 1 Antti Raanta (lower body) out. … Green had his first three-point game since Nov. 15, 2017, against Calgary.

What's next

Coyotes: Host the Nashville Predators on Thursday (9 p.m. ET; FS-A, FS-N, NHL.TV)
Red Wings: At the Ottawa Senators on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; RDS2, TSN5, FS-D, NHL.TV)