National Hockey League
Detroit 4, Edmonton 0
When: 4:00 PM ET, Sunday, November 5, 2017
Where: Rogers Place, Edmonton, Alberta
Referees: Tom Chmielewski, Garrett Rank
Linesmen: Ryan Galloway, Brian Mach
Attendance: 18347

EDMONTON, Alberta -- Detroit Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill juggled his lines and gave goalie Petr Mrazek his first ice time since Oct. 20.

Blashill's team made him look like a genius.

Three of the lines scored, the power play unit chipped in a goal and Mrazek made 36 saves as the Red Wings opened a three-game trip through western Canada with a dominant 4-0 win over the struggling Edmonton Oilers on Sunday.

"I think what I learned from last year is that if you don't play for a while, you have to work hard and keep doing what you're doing," Mrazek said. "If you work hard in practice, you stay in the game."

Mrazek picked up his first-ever NHL shutout against Edmonton in 2013. So does Edmonton hold a special place in his heart?

"Every game is different," he said. "If it's here or in any other building, it doesn't matter. Most important thing are two points."

The Oilers (4-8-1), who have scored just 30 goals this season, have been held to two goals or fewer in nine of their 13 games.

"We're not quick enough to loose pucks, we don't keep enough plays alive in the offensive zone," Oilers coach Todd McLellan said. "Some of that is actual skating pace, a lot of that is just reading and reacting. I don't think we defend quick enough.

"Our penalty kill is not reacting fast enough, our power play is not reacting quick enough. There are some plays there, a lot of these open nets are laying there, we're just a fraction slow on firing the pucks. Yeah, we have to play faster."

Frans Nielsen celebrated his 700th NHL game with an audacious tip-in goal on a point shot from Nick Jensen to open the scoring 3:23 into the first period. Nielsen was out by the faceoff dot and tipped a puck that was wide of the net and sent it flying over the shoulder of goaltender Cam Talbot.

"I didn't even know it went in," Nielsen said. "So I guess you can call it lucky. ... It was a big goal, you don't want to get behind in this building. It was good to see it go in."

The Red Wings (7-7-1) doubled their lead at 9:10 of the first period.

Gustav Nyquist poked a puck past Talbot off a goal-mouth scramble and, while it wasn't officially a power-play goal, it came just as Edmonton's Patrick Maroon was coming out of the box and the Oilers were essentially short-handed in their own zone.

Nyquist didn't make it to the end of the first period, though. He hobbled to the dressing room, barely able to put any weight on his right leg, after his knee collided with Oilers defenseman Eric Gryba's hip.

Blashill said Nyquist is day to day, and he isn’t sure if the player will be available for Monday's game in Vancouver.

The Red Wings made it 3-0 at 8:47 of the second period as Martin Frk slotted home a pass from Anthony Mantha after Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse failed to clear a puck across his own blue line.

"Marty's been playing much better over the last couple of games," Blashill said. "We've been giving him a little more ice time. I think he's earned it and he's been playing better.

"He's a dangerous player and, at times we haven't had enough dangerous players out there."

Jussi Jokinen had a chance to score his first goal with the Oilers but missed an open-net chance with six minutes left in the second period.

The Red Wings iced the game at 6:30 of the third period, as the power play took advantage of the Oilers' league-worst penalty kill. Mantha was in the slot to deposit a rebound in to an empty net after Talbot made the initial save on a Frk shot.

The Oilers' top line of Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Maroon was held to a total of three shots.

After a 2-3-0 homestand, the Oilers head out on the road in second-to-last place in the Western Conference, despite being the bookmakers co-preseason favorite to win the Stanley Cup.

"It's on all of us, this hole that we have dug ourselves," Oilers veteran Milan Lucic said. "Eventually, you have to start doing something about it and stop feeling sorry for yourselves. I think it comes down to the players taking over like we did last year and playing the way that we can. That's what it is going to take for it to turn around."

NOTES: The Oilers are 1-6-1 against Eastern Conference teams. ... This was only the Oilers' 28th afternoon home game since the team entered the NHL in 1979. ... Oilers LW Anton Slepyshev left late in Friday's win over New Jersey and wasn't available. ... The Oilers also scratched LW Jujhar Khaira and D Yohann Auvitu. ... The Red Wings scratched LW David Booth, RW Luke Witkowski and D Danny DeKeyser. ... Oilers LW Patrick Maroon had his seven-game point streak snapped.
Top Game Performances
 
Detroit   Edmonton
Martin Frk 2 Points N/A
Martin Frk 1 Goals N/A
Martin Frk 1 Assists N/A
Anthony Mantha 1 Power Play Goals N/A
N/A Short Handed Goals N/A
Petr Mrazek 1.000 Save Percentage Cam Talbot .886
Petr Mrazek 36 Saves Cam Talbot 31
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
Detroit 35 4 1-2 2-2 4 27
Edmonton 36 0 0-2 1-2 4 38
Upcoming Games
  • Edmonton will play their next game on the road against NY Islanders. The Oilers have a W/L % of .000 after a win and .444 after a loss.
  • Detroit will play their next game on the road against Vancouver. The Red Wings have a W/L % of .571 after a win and .375 after a loss.