RECAP: Early deficit costs Red Wings in 6-2 loss to Jets  

DETROIT -- The Detroit Red Wings couldn’t slow down the Winnipeg Jets in a 6-2 loss at Little Caesars Arena on Wednesday night.

Goalie Alex Lyon finished with 23 saves for the Red Wings (4-5-1; 9 points), who dropped their third straight game. Netminder Connor Hellebuyck turned aside 19 shots for Winnipeg (9-1-0; 18 points).

“That’s a really good hockey team over there,” J.T. Compher said. “We kind of dug ourselves a little too big of a hole and weren’t able to fully get out of it.”

Getting tested early, the Red Wings found themselves trailing 2-0 less than five minutes into the game. Gabriel Vilardi broke the ice when he finished a centering pass from Kyle Connor at 2:48, then Neal Pionk crashed the net and buried a rebound after a point shot from Mark Scheifele at 4:02.

Connor added another first-period goal for Winnipeg at 15:44, as the Shelby Township, Mich., native tucked in a backhand shot to push it to 3-0.

“The three first-period goals, which obviously got us behind a team like that, were just one-on-one battles,” Detroit head coach Derek Lalonde said. “We got beat to the net. Two rushes in which we identified the right guy, just the guy outmuscled our guy to the net for an easy goal, then a face-off goal. Same thing: simple assignment got beat to the net.”

Finding twine for the fifth time this season, captain Dylan Larkin scored on the power play to cut the hosts' deficit to 3-1 at 8:13 of the second period. Moritz Seider got the puck after a face-off win and found Lucas Raymond, who set up Larkin in the high slot.

Bringing the Red Wings back within striking distance, Alex DeBrincat got a piece of Raymond’s shot from the left face-off circle to make it 3-2 at 17:40 of the second period. Seider earned the secondary assist on DeBrincat’s fifth goal of the season.

“I liked our second [period],” Lalonde said. “I know it was the power play that got us going, but we had some shifts and some momentum. We earned it, then the first goal of the third was a backbreaker.”

Winnipeg regained control early in the third period. Nino Niederreiter scored a backhand goal just 10 seconds into the frame, then Pionk’s second tally of the game, this one on the man advantage, made it 5-2 at 7:19.

At 10:25 of the third period, Colin Miller scored just after a power play expired to push it to 6-2.

“We had a good mentality going into the third period against a good team,” Compher said. “It was still a good opportunity to get a point or two. I think we can work on the response. [Niederreiter’s goal] was a tough goal to let in, but it’s a bad bounce. That’s all it is. We were still in a decent spot to fight back.”

Reflecting on the first few weeks of the season, Larkin said the Red Wings had a lot of ups and downs over their first 10 games.

“We played some very good teams and it would have been nice to cap off this month, like J.T. said, with a point or two,” Larkin said. “We climbed back in it, but our details weren’t good enough. You look at the schedule before the season, we emphasized the start. Our start wasn’t great, and we dug ourselves out of that hole. I’m very excited and interested to see how we respond to this game, and really these last three games where we left points out there.”

NEXT UP: Detroit will conclude its three-game homestand when the Buffalo Sabres visit Little Caesars Arena on Saturday night.

POSTGAME QUOTES

Lalonde on the identity his club is trying to imprint

“Probably when see flashes of it. First period against Edmonton, second period today. We’re getting out of our zone, getting through the neutral zone, getting behind them, getting a little sustained O-zone and some momentum. It’s tough to get things off the rush, and we have guys that want to get off the rush. And if it’s there, we’ll take it off the rush like there early in the first.”

Lalonde on the Red Wings’ offense unable to get going against the Jets

“It was just so sporadic on who was going. I think some guys had their moments. I just think collectively we were sporadic. Again, just a weird game in that we get out of that first period down three, and they were all three very similar goals.”

Larkin on what contributed to Wednesday’s end result

“We dug ourselves out of it a little bit. We just didn’t help ourselves tonight. The power play was good, but we can’t show up to home ice and let in three goals in the first period. We can’t start periods like that.”

Compher on the importance of playing sharp against a skilled club like Winnipeg

“Definitely not as sharp as you need to be to win games in this league against top teams. When you’re not that sharp, that’s what happens. Their skill does take over. We gave them too much room on the rush and in the D-zone, and they were able to capitalize on us.”