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WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- The Detroit Red Wings lulled the Winnipeg Jets into a false sense of security before turning up the heat and pulling off a 4-3 shootout victory Tuesday night at the MTS Centre. The visitors found their legs after spotting the home side a 3-1 lead in the first period. Detroit scored a pair in the second frame and gradually wore their hosts down until the Jets had virtually nothing left.
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Center Henrik Zetterberg scored the winning marker in the shootout, and Petr Mrazek made 31 saves for Detroit and stopped three of four shots in the skills contest.
The Red Wings got regulation goals from Tomas Tatar, Anthony Mantha and Thomas Vanek. The Jets replied with goals by Andrew Copp, Dustin Byfuglien and rookie sensation Patrik Laine.
Zetterberg, the Red Wings' captain, went to school on fellow center Frans Nielsen's unsuccessful attempt in the shootout against Connor Hellebuyck (27 saves).
"(Hellebuyck) went down when he tried to deke him. I thought I'd do the same," said Zetterberg, who went top shelf off the backhand deke. "It's nice to get the second point, especially with where we are in the standings. We need all the points we can get. Once you get (to overtime), you might as well get the second one. You've got to be a little bit lucky."
The Jets (13-13-3) hadn't surrendered a two-goal lead at the MTS Centre since they led St. Louis 3-1 in the second period on Dec. 15, 2015, and ended up losing 4-3.
The second period continues to be the problem for the Jets, who have been outscored 39-19 in the middle period this season, including 2-0 against Detroit.
The Jets outshot the Red Wings 28-16 through two periods, but Detroit (13-11-3) had a large territorial advantage in the third period, outshooting the hosts 10-3 plus 4-3 in overtime.
In fact, the Jets didn't get their first shot of the final frame until left winger Nikolaj Ehlers broke through on a partial breakaway with 6 1/2 minutes remaining.
Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill credited the leadership in his dressing room for fueling the comeback after Detroit stumbled out of the gate.
"We came out in the second and third and played much, much better hockey," he said. "Obviously, we still needed good goaltending at certain points of the game, but I just was real happy with the way our guys responded after the first."
The lack of rubber directed his way in the third period wasn't lost on Mrazek.
"For like 15 minutes, I didn't face any shots, but you have to stay focused and watch the puck. You never know when the puck is coming to you," he said.
Indeed, despite being dominated for the last half of the game, the Jets had two golden opportunities to win in overtime. Ehlers was stymied from in close when he slipped behind the defense, and center Bryan Little was thwarted on a clear-cut breakaway.
"I was trying to stay big (on Little). I thought he was going to shoot high glove. I closed the five-hole early," Mrazek said.
The Jets were once again led by Laine, who is proving to be not only a supreme marksman but also a top setup man, too.
Laine waited out Red Wings defenseman Jonathan Ericsson on a two-on-one with Byfuglien and deposited a saucer pass on the big defenseman's stick just past the midway mark of the first period. Byfuglien promptly ripped his third of the season over Mrazek's blocker at 11:22 of the first period for a 2-1 lead.
Less than two minutes later, Laine regained a share of the NHL goal-scoring lead when his wrist shot deflected off a stick and, while heading wide of the net, ricocheted off defenseman Mike Green's upper body and behind Mzarek at 13:06. It was his 17th goal of the year, tying the 18-year-old with Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby.
"I think we were pretty good (in the) first period," Laine said. "We just didn't keep going in the second. I don't know what happened. I think we just let the opponent come back into the game. That was just a mistake. We just weren't playing the same game (as we did) in the first period. That can't happen against a good team like this. They will come back into the game right away, and that happened tonight."
Laine also extended his lead in rookie scoring. His 25 points put him six clear of Toronto Maple Leafs forwards Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner. Laine has 17 goals to 11 for Matthews, who was selected in the top spot in last June's amateur draft, one place ahead of Laine.
The Red Wings obviously heard about Laine's success with the man advantage -- he has nine power-play goals this year -- so they sent two men after him whenever he had the puck in the Red Wings' zone. The Jets were scoreless in three chances on the man advantage, while the Red Wings came up empty twice.
NOTES: The Jets played their third consecutive game without their leading scorer, C Mark Scheifele, who is day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Joining him in the press box were LW Kyle Connor and D Mark Stuart. ... Healthy scratches for the Red Wings were D Ryan Sproul and LW Tomas Nosek. ... The Jets' power play went 3 of 7 in the previous three games, 42.9 percent, well ahead of its 16 percent success rate for the entire season. ... The Red Wings made just their fourth trip to Winnipeg since the Jets relocated in 2011. ... Red Wings LW Henrik Zetterberg is seventh on the franchise's all-time goal-scoring list with 315, just nine behind Norm Ullman in sixth place. Gordie Howe is No. 1 with 786.
