Red Wings defeat Jets to end 12-game streak

DETROIT-- The Detroit Red Wings won for the first time since Nov. 12, ending a 12-game streak with a 5-2 win against the Winnipeg Jets at Little Caesars Arena on Thursday.

"A streak like that really grinds on you, so getting a win is a good thing for us," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "I think our guys have done a really good job of coming out every night with a next-game mentality. They've been able to put each game behind them and start fresh."
Robby Fabbri, Filip Hronek and Filip Zadina each had three points for Detroit (8-22-3), which was 0-10-2 since a 4-3 overtime win against the Anaheim Ducks one month ago.
WATCH: [All Jets vs. Red Wings Highlights]
Winnipeg (19-11-2) had won two in a row and three of four, including 5-1 against Detroit on Tuesday.
Two Red Wings goals went in off the skate of Jets defenseman Neal Pionk.
"You might see one play like that every few games, so it felt kind of wrong to see two of them tonight," Winnipeg goalie Connor Hellebuyck said. "We weren't out of position or anything like that. You just have to chalk it up to being their night."
Hronek made it 5-2 at 18:08 of the third period with one of the longest goals possible on an NHL rink. Standing with his back against his end boards, his high shot went into an empty net on the fly.

"I've never seen anyone put one in from that spot in the air before," Blashill said. "I wasn't even sure it was going to stay in the building, so we were very happy to see it go in."
The Red Wings took a 1-0 lead at 7:49 of the first period when Darren Helm stole the puck from Nathan Beaulieu and scored on a breakaway.
"The puck bounced over my stick, then I fumbled it again and ran into the linesman," Beaulieu said. "That's my fault. It's tough to put your team in an early hole like that."
Detroit went ahead 2-0 at 13:47 when Fabbri's pass went in off Pionk's skate for a power-play goal.
The Red Wings took a 3-0 lead -- their first three-goal lead of the season -- at 3:35 of the second period when Fabbri put the puck in front of the net and it went in off Pionk's skate.
"Those were some early Christmas gifts, but that's what it takes to win games," Fabbri said. "That's what it takes to win some games. It's not always going to be pretty, but you play hard and get into the dirty areas."
Kyle Connor scored to make it 3-1 at 7:16, and pulled the Jets within 3-2 at 12:57.

"They had a couple fortunate bounces and we had a good response, but they were all over us in the first period," he said. "That's a pretty desperate team over there and we didn't match their intensity at the start."
Zadina made it 4-2 at 19:36 on the power play with his first goal of the season.
"This was awesome," he said. "We played really well as a team, which was important, and we obviously got a win. That's huge."
Jonathan Bernier made 26 saves for Detroit. Hellebuyck made 29 saves for Winnipeg.

They said it

"You're going to have nights where the puck doesn't go your way. Give the Red Wings credit for playing hard and maybe forcing some of those events, but the first one knuckled on us, and then we bunted two into our own net and the fourth one went in off a foot. You want to get all of those out of the way in one game." -- Jets coach Paul Maurice
"My voice is gone and I wasn't feeling the best the last couple days. Maybe it was the cold air in Winnipeg, but I couldn't skate this morning. We've been having a tough time and I knew I couldn't leave them out there and just watch. I was going to play the whole time and it was awesome to be out there for this win." -- Red Wings forward Dylan Larkin after playing through an illness

Need to know

Connor, who grew up in Detroit's northern suburbs, has seven points (four goals, three assists) in seven games against the Red Wings. … Zadina had the first multipoint game of his NHL career. He entered with six points (one goal, five assists) in 17 games over the past two seasons.

What's next

Jets: Host the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday (5 p.m. ET; ESPN+, TSN3, NBCSP+, NHL.TV)
Red Wings: At the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, SN360, CITY, SNE, TVAS, FS-D, NHL.TV)