DETROIT — The Detroit Red Wings haven't scored many goals lately but sure did Tuesday, and needed them all.
The Wings defeated the hard-charging and explosive Winnipeg Jets, 7-5, to end a three-game losing streak.
After only scoring four goals during those three losses, the Wings exploded for three goals in the first period then had to keep adding whenever they could against the Jets.
Winnipeg's Nikolaj Ehlers cut the Wings' lead to 5-4 just 33 seconds into the third period. But Robby Fabbri scored his second goal since returning last week from knee surgery, redirecting Gustav Lindstrom's shot at 1:52, restoring a two-goal Wings' lead.
Mark Scheifele (power play) cut the Wings' lead to 6-5, putting back a loose puck in front of goaltender Ville Husso at 14:55. But Lucas Raymond finally ended it with an empty net goal at 18:40, Raymond's 11th goal.
Jake Walman, Jonatan Berggren and Oskar Sundqvist had first-period goals, as the Wings (17-15-7) skated to a 3-1 lead after 20 minutes.
Winnipeg came to within 4-3 in the second period before Dylan Larkin scored his 14th goal on a two-man advantage. Dominik Kubalik (13th goal) had given the Wings a 4-1 lead early in the period off an odd-man rush with Sundqvist.
Moritz Seider assisted on four goals tying a team-record for a defenseman (Mike Green had four assists on Oct. 5, 2017), while Andrew Copp and Lucas Raymond each had two assists.
"We have to flip these tight games," said coach Derek Lalonde after Tuesday's morning skate. "There's some truth to seeing a lot of good play in the last three games. (But the Wings need) a little stick to it, more within the special teams and five-on-five offense to flip these types of games."
Neal Pionk, Sam Gagner and Nate Schmidt added Winnipeg (26-14-1) goals, as the Jets saw their five-game win streak come to an end.
Scouting the Jets heading into the game, Lalonde came away impressed with how Winnipeg has turned its attention to defense as much as the offensive end.
"They're playing the right way, they're committed to keeping it out of the net more than putting it in the net, with some of the special, elite talent they have," said Lalonde after Tuesday's morning skate. "They have finish and they're building around a Vezina-type caliber goalie (Commerce Township's Connor Hellebuyck)," Lalonde said. "It's fun to watch and it's an example of a team playing the right way and getting rewarded for it."
The Wings welcomed Tyler Bertuzzi back to the lineup after missing six weeks with a hand injury. Lalonde was hopeful Bertuzzi could help the sputtering offense.
"He has scored goals in this league, he's an established goal scorer," Lalonde said. "Hopefully there's some (goal-scoring) finish there."
Copp, playing against his former team, drew assists on the first two goals. Copp made a nice backhand feed to Berggren near the slot that gave the Wings a quick 2-0 lead at 7:21 of the first period.
After a slow start this season, and signing a five-year free agent contract last summer, Copp is beginning to feel more comfortable after off-season core muscle surgery.
"I don't think people appreciate enough core surgery, and he missed the entire (training camp)," Lalonde said. "He didn't look like the same athlete. You didn't see the fast twitch. Now you're seeing him winning 50-50 battles, he has some pop to his game, you can see his confidence. He probably reflected our team, ups and downs with his play, but the other tough thing is and he wouldn't any other way is, we ask a ton of him."
Copp feels the key for the Wings to come out of the recent slump was simply putting their entire game together, rather than parts of it.
"We've had games where we've had good special teams and our five-on-five hasn't been as good," Copp said. "Then the five-on-five has been good, but our special teams hasn't been there. It's a matter of kind of putting it all together and I don't think we're that far off. But we have to find a way to put it all together."
