Red Wings erase deficit, top Jets in shootout

WINNIPEG - It was a tale of two games.
A good, if not great opening 20 that saw the Jets open up a 3-1 lead, along with a dominant 16-7 advantage on the shot clock, and a sloppy final 40 that ultimately cost them half of the two points they were looking for.
In the end, we'll call it a point earned.
Patrik Laine and Dustin Byfuglien had a goal and an assist each to help the Jets build a 3-1 lead in the first period, but the Red Wings rallied, forcing overtime and eventually a shootout where Thomas Vanek and Henrik Zetterberg scored to give the visitors a 4-3 victory.

Patrik Laine tallied Winnipeg's lone marker in the shootout, while Andrew Copp scored the Jets' first goal in regulation time. Connor Hellebuyck made 27 saves.
"They got on the forecheck and we stopped being able to move things easily," said Head Coach Paul Maurice. "Things got a lot harder for us. Not even so much their pressure, just how we moved the puck. We slowed down, our feet and our hands slowed down and it cost us some time.
"We were struggling there a little bit. It looked like we had some miles on us."
Indeed.
Fatigue remains a hot topic 'round these parts because the Jets are in the midst of playing 11 games in 19 days.

"We just played six straight fantastic, full-on periods and then came out and gave a seventh," Maurice said of the Jets' excellent opening stanza. "The second was even in a lot of ways, but we were just struggling to find some legs in the third and we couldn't find them."
Trailing by two after 20 minutes of play, Detroit tallied a pair in the back half of the middle frame tie things up at three heading into the third period.
Anthony Mantha buried a slick centering feed from Dylan Larkin to cut the deficit to one at 10:59, after pivot helped force rare turnover by the normally sure-handed Toby Enstrom. Showing great speed, Larkin took it wide around a fallen defender, circled the net and found Mantha in front, and just like that, it was a one-goal game
The Red Wings pulled even on Thomas Vanek's fifth of the year with just 2:09 to play. Xavier Ouelett supplied a pass from the right point, and Vanek - uncovered at the doorstep - heeled it past Hellebuyck for the equalizer.
The Jets have now been outscored 39-19 in the second period this year.
"We needed to bear down a little bit," Copp said. "I don't want to say 'complacent,' but we weren't on (the puck) and as focused as we needed to be as we were the past two games. I think that's where the letup happened."

The Jets had only three shots in the third period, and the first one didn't come until the 14-minute mark.
"In the third, it seemed like they were sitting back a little bit and letting us wind up in our end before trapping the neutral zone," Copp said. "We didn't get too many pucks behind their D and when we did, they were already back and were able to get to them quickly. I'm not sure if that's us not generating enough to get through the neutral zone, or if that's them trapping us. It definitely felt like everyone was in front of us."
Still, there was no shortage of effort. Ehlers, in particular, had a number of great chances to help the Jets win it late in the third period and overtime, but he was unable to solve the netminder with any of his six shots on goal.
Ehlers, who had an assist on Laine's regulation marker, has now gone 14 games without a goal, but continues to be among the league leaders in helpers.
"This has been a theme (with Ehlers)," Maurice said. "(He's been) in alone probably more than any other guy on our team and there's not a lot of ease to it. It's not coming off the stick the way he'd like, I don't think, and he's pressing a little bit, but there's not much you can give a guy on breakaways. He's getting them, he's getting them in tight and the goalies have made some saves on him. … Stay with it and try to stay positive in your game. He's in the second year of his National Hockey League career. He had a stretch last year where he wasn't getting much done offensively but that's a completely different animal now because he's getting (chances) and that probably bothers a young more even more. If he'd been 50-50 on his breakaways, he'd be over 10 \goals already.
"For those guys, they've got to get one for them and when that happens, everything relaxes and gets easier."
No. 27 admits it's a little frustrating, but he isn't getting worked up about it.
"I feel OK," he said with a wry smile. "It always comes first that the team wins. Of you want to (score), but I feel good."

Copp opened the scoring for the Jets at 6:41 of the first period, but the Red Wings answered right back as Tomas Tatar buried a rebound at the side of the net just 24 seconds later.
First, and with the Jets leading 6-0 on the shot clock, Marko Dano made a smart pass back to the point, where Ben Chiarot leaned into a 45-foot slapper. Copp gained position in front and got a piece of the D man's long bomb, redirecting it past Petr Mrazek for the game's early score.
Byfuglien put the home side back in front at 11:21 as he took a feed from Laine on a 2-on-1 and fired it high over Mrazek's right shoulder for his third of the year, and 100th as a member of the Jets. Then, less than two minutes later, the Finn took matters into his own hands, gathering a pass from Ehlers and rifling a shot from the top of the circle off a body and in.

Laine's pass on the Byfuglien goal was a thing of a beauty, saucing it just over the stick of Jonathan Ericsson and landing it flat in the big man's wheelhouse.
Byfuglien returned the favour with the second assist on the rookie's tally.
But that was all the offence the Jets were able to muster on this night.
"Overall we just lost our quickness as the game wore on," captain Blake Wheeler said. "They stole the momentum at the end of the second and in the third period we were just trying to fight to get into overtime. When your game turns into that, sometimes it's good to salvage as many points as you can."

The Jets are back on action on Thursday night when they entertain Henrik Lundqvist and the New York Rangers.
"We can get back to being quick, get a good night's rest, come back feeling good," Maurice said. "We had a handful of individuals that I thought struggled tonight, but we'll be better next game."
LATE HITS: Alexander Burmistrov left the game late in the second period and did not return with an upper-body injury. … Mark Scheifele missed his third straight game with a lower-body injury. Scheifele did skate earlier this morning and is improving, but is still day-to-day. The injury is not long term and is not something the Jets will have to monitor going forward, Maurice said.
- Ryan Dittrick, WinnipegJets.com