Seider has 4 assists, Red Wings hold off Jets

DETROIT -- Moritz Seider had four assists for the Detroit Red Wings in a 7-5 win against the Winnipeg Jets at Little Caesars Arena on Tuesday.

The 21-year-old tied the Red Wings' record for assists by a defenseman and was their first to have four in a game since Mike Green on Oct. 5, 2017. Three of Seider's four assists came in the first period.
"I think I'm playing a lot more mature defensively this year," Seider said. "I'm getting better and I'm finding the right times to jump into the offense. That's important when you are playing against the top lines every night."

Lucas Raymond had a goal and two assists, and Oskar Sundqvist and Dylan Larkin each had a goal and an assist for the Red Wings (16-16-7). Ville Husso made 32 saves.
"Thank God for him tonight," Detroit coach Derek Lalonde said of Seider. "I like that we scored and I like that we won the game, but that might have been our worst performance of the year."
Neal Pionk, Nikolaj Ehlers and Mark Scheifele each had a goal and an assist for the Jets (26-14-1), who had won five in a row. Connor Hellebuyck allowed six goals on 22 shots.
"Connor is our guy, we all know that," Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness said. "He's won a lot of games for us for this year, and he'll win a lot more. We could have scored enough goals to win this game, but we didn't get there."
The Red Wings scored on their first shot for the second game in a row when Jake Walman beat Hellebuyck at 1:16 of the first.

Jonatan Berggren made it 2-0 at 7:21, and Sundqvist gave the Red Wings a 3-0 lead at 15:27 off a feed from Seider.
"We've talked a lot about being better off the start," Jets forward Sam Gagner said. "That has to be an area of growth moving forward."
Pionk cut it to 3-1 at 17:17.
Dominik Kubalik made it 4-1 on a 2-on-1 with Sundqvist at 2:57 of the second period.
Gagner cut it to 4-2 at 9:46, and Nate Schmidt made it 4-3 at 12:08.
Seider got his fourth assist when Larkin gave Detroit a 5-3 lead during a 5-on-3 power play at 17:38.
"Our penalty kill has been amazing all year and we've been pretty disciplined," Gagner said. "That's just one of those things that happens, and it came just as we were gathering momentum."
Ehlers cut it to 5-4 just 33 seconds into the third period and could have tied it moments later, but Filip Hronek broke up a 3-on-1 rush.
Robby Fabbri redirected a shot from Gustav Lindstrom to make it 6-4 at 1:52.

Scheifele cut it to 6-5 on a power play at 14:55, and Pionk hit the post with 3:13 remaining.
"When we got it to 6-5, I think everyone on the bench thought we were going to tie the game," Schmidt said. "We hadn't played our best game, and we'd given up so many good chances, but we still had a chance to win the game.
"You just can't put yourself in a spot where the whole game is uphill."
Raymond scored an empty-net goal with 1:20 left for the 7-5 final.
"We were getting a little nervous on the bench, but this was a big game to win," Raymond said. "It felt really good walking away from here with a win."
NOTES:Seider is the second-youngest defenseman with a four-assist game for the Red Wings; Reed Larson was 38 days younger when he did it March 28, 1978. … Detroit has scored seven goals in a game three times this season (Nov. 17 against the San Jose Sharks; Dec. 21 against the Tampa Bay Lightning). … Red Wings forward Tyler Bertuzzi played for the first time since Nov. 30. Bertuzzi, who has only played 10 games after injuries to both hands, did not have a shot on goal in 17:48 of ice time. … Winnipeg forward Kyle Connor had an assist on Ehlers' goal, giving him 50 points (20 goals, 30 assists) for the sixth straight season. He's only the fourth player in Jets/Atlanta Thrashers history to reach that mark, joining Ilya Kovalchuk (eight), Blake Wheeler (seven) and Scheifele (seven).