Detroit Red Wings @ Winnipeg Jets 1-4
Jacob Trouba scored twice and Connor Hellebuyck made 33 saves to help the Jets to a 4-1 win against the Red Wings at MTS Centre. Andrew Ladd and Alexander Burmistrov scored for Winnipeg, which won its third consecutive home game and has victories in six of the past seven games at MTS Centre. Bryan Little had three assists and Blake Wheeler had two assists. The Jets remain in last place in the Central Division but moved within two points of the sixth-place Colorado Avalanche. Winnipeg begins a five-game road trip Thursday at the Coyotes. Pavel Datsyuk scored for the Red Wings, who have lost back-to-back games. Goaltender Jimmy Howard made 10 saves on 14 shots before being pulled for Petr Mrazek with Winnipeg ahead 4-0. Mrazek had 11 saves. An issue for the Jets all season, special teams helped them take a 2-0 lead by 10:29 of the first period. Trouba's shorthanded goal at 4:27 opened the scoring. While killing off Adam Lowry's double-minor for high sticking, Trouba broke loose on a pass from Drew Stafford before beating Howard with a high shot. Trouba's third goal gave the Jets’ 26th-ranked penalty kill six shorthanded goals this year, third-most in the NHL. Detroit went 0-for-4 on the power play in the first period. Ladd capitalized during a 5-on-3 man-advantage for his 10th goal.
After Detroit took penalties 41 seconds apart, Ladd moved into the left circle, took a pass from Wheeler and put a shot past Howard for the Jets' first 5-on-3 goal this season. Burmistrov's goal, his first since Nov. 4, extended Winnipeg's lead to 3-0 at 4:13 of the second. Trouba's second goal of the game at 11:43 made it 4-0. It was his first two-goal game since Jan. 18, 2014. Little assisted on the Jets' final three goals. He has four goals and four assists in his past five games. Datsyuk scored Detroit's only goal on the power play 1:52 into the third period. It was his fifth goal of the season and moved his point streak to four games (two goals, two assists). Datsyuk played his 909th game with the Red Wings, moving him past Sergei Fedorov and Kirk Maltby into eighth place in franchise history. Blashill pulled Howard in a 4-3 home loss against the New Jersey Devils on Dec. 22 after he allowed three goals on six first-period shots.
Blashill and Howard's teammates rallied around the goaltender after the game.
The Red Wings, who are in a stretch of nine of 10 games on the road, face the Pittsburgh Penguins at home Thursday before starting a six-game road trip. Hellebuyck has stopped 63 of 64 shots in his past two games.
Jacob Trouba: "To get back in this thing, we need to get rolling here and get on a streak. This road trip coming up is very important, and we're going to need a lot of the same style of game."
Connor Hellebuyck: "I thought the team played really well in front of me. Getting that early lead is huge. We set the pace from there."
Chicago Blackhawks @ Phoenix Coyotes 7-5
After scoring one goal in back-to-back losses, the Blackhawks relied on their power play to get their offense back on track. Patrick Kane scored his 22nd goal of the season and assisted on two of Chicago's power-play goals in the first period, helping the Blackhawks to a 7-5 win against the Coyotes at Gila River Arena. The Blackhawks have 14 power-play goals in 51 attempts on the road this season (27.5 percent). Their success with the extra man helped them put the Coyotes in a quick hole early. Kane is one goal behind League leader Benn of the Dallas Stars. Duncan Keith, Artem Anisimov and Artemi Panarin all scored power-play goals in the first period for the Blackhawks. Andrew Desjardins scored two goals, double his output over the first 32 games, and Jonathan Toews had an empty-netter. Chicago won for the seventh time in their past eight trips to Phoenix, including the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Corey Crawford made 32 saves to win for the 19th time this season. Zbynek Michalek and Connor Murphy also scored for the Coyotes. Anders Lindback allowed three goals on five shots in the first period before giving way to backup Louis Domingue, who made 19 saves in relief. It's the seventh time in the past 13 games that the Coyotes have allowed at least five goals, and the second time they have allowed seven.
The Blackhawks had one even-strength shot and were outshot 12-5 in the first period, but the power play was sharp right away. Kane was hooked down by Anthony Duclair for the first of 12 penalties in the game. With the man advantage, he gained the line with speed and dropped a backhand pass to Keith, who put a one-timer past Lindback's glove from the left circle for his sixth goal at 6:21. Keith had a goal and two assists. Murphy went to the box 33 seconds later and the Blackhawks needed two shots to double their lead. Kane fed Brent Seabrook in the high slot; his shot was deflected in front by Anisimov and went past Lindback at 7:36 to make it 2-0. But Phoenix got back into the game at 10:18 with the help of a friendly bounce. Doan flipped a shot from the blue line that took one big hop and went over Crawford's glove to start his big night. The Coyotes tied the game 1:49 later. Oliver Ekman-Larsson made a pass from behind the net and Michalek put the shot off the far post and past Crawford at 12:07. Ekman-Larsson, who left the game in the final minute with a lower-body injury. But another penalty opened the door for Chicago. With Michalek in the box, Panarin whacked a Seabrook feed from the high slot past Lindback and under the crossbar at 19:08 to put Chicago ahead to stay. It was the seventh goal allowed by the Coyotes' penalty kill in its past 14 chances. Domingue replaced Lindback to start the second period. Chicago needed two minutes of the second period to stretch the lead. Teuvo Teravainen dropped a pass to Desjardins for an innocent-looking wrist shot from the top of the right circle that squeezed under Domingue's glove and pad. Kane gave Chicago a three-goal lead at 7:08 when he took a pass from Andrew Shaw and hit a wide-open net. Desjardins made it 6-2 at 5:04 of the third period. Domingue made the save on his shot but the rebound bounded off of Nicklas Grossmann and into the net for his third goal of the year and second of the night. Doan got his second of the night on the power play at 7:17 and Murphy made it 6-4 just after another power play expired with a shot off the post at 13:03. But Toews put the game away with his empty-netter before Doan scored his record-tying goal. Kane leads the NHL in scoring with 53 points.
Patrick Kane: "We were three for our first three power plays, and that's nice to rely on if you are struggling to score. It's been inconsistent over the years, but we have two good units right now and a lot of depth. If one unit doesn't get it started, the other one wants to get out there for a chance to cash in."
Joel Quenneville: "We made it exciting in the end. Our power play was great. We haven't had a lead like that all year but we have to play the right way when we get it. Hopefully it will happen again. I don't know if those were called goal-scorers' goals but I'll take them."
Andrew Desjardins: "I was trying to get pucks to the net and good things happened."
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