Mason Appleton scored the game-winning goal against his former teammates on Wednesday.
Mason Appleton scored the game-winning goal against his former teammates on Wednesday.
Detroit — The Red Wings closed out 2025 like they’ve done for most of the last three months — with a victory.
Before a festive New Year’s Eve crowd Wednesday, which is usually the case in this annual tradition, the Wings defeated Winnipeg ,2-1.
Dylan Larkin (power play) and Mason Appleton scored first-period goals, and goaltender John Gibson stopped 24 shots.
The Wings (24-14-3, 51 points) moved back into first place in the Atlantic Division and are tied with Carolina for most points in the Eastern Conference. The Wings won for the fifth time in six games, and closed out December with a 11-3-1 record.
“We put ourselves in a good spot and we’ve showed we can do it,” said Gibson, who won for the ninth time in his last 10 decisions. “It’s about keeping it going and being consistent throughout the second half (of the season).”
Throughout the month, as the Wings kept adding victories, coach Todd McLellan talked about how there was a lot of “runway” remaining, and room for improvement.
Wednesday’s victory proved McLellan’s point was correct.
“We start the night well and we’re playing a certain style or brand that we all believe in and will make us successful, and we get away from it a little bit,” McLellan said. “We get a two-goal lead and we’re not the same direct team. We slow things down and don’t forecheck as much and the game starts coming back at us.
“We have to learn to handle that better. The evolution of the team has been a positive thing through December. But tonight was good for us because we it’s pretty evident we still have work to do.”
Winnipeg’s Logan Stanley sliced the Wings’ lead to 2-1 at 7:04 of the third period, Stanley’s seventh goal on a feed from Jonathan Toews.
But the Wings killed Winnipeg’s third power play of the game almost two minutes later, and Gibson preserved the victory down the stretch. Gibson made a big stop on former Wing Gustav Nyquist with under two minutes left, in the slot.
“Just doing my job,” said Gibson of his strong December. “Sometimes you have a good read on it and sometimes you need a little bit of luck to be good too. I’ll take the win.”
Larkin scored his 21st goal at 8 minutes, 22 seconds, on the power play. Larkin took a pass from Moritz Seider and beat goaltender Connor Hellebuyck (Commerce) from above the hashmarks.
The Wings pushed the lead to 2-0 when Appleton scored against his former team. J.T. Compher found Appleton, who had eluded the Jets’ defense, and Appleton lifted a shot that bounced off Hellebuyck and a defenseman, into the net, Appleton’s fifth goal at 14:48.
“It feels good,” said Appleton of scoring against his former team. “That was a funny goal, how it goes in, but it feels good to score against your old team.”
Appleton liked the way the Wings stayed calm and didn’t panic in the third period despite a determined Jets push.
“They had their chances a little late, but I didn’t feel any panic, we were calm and we defended the right way,” Appleton said. “They had a real good look at the end and sometimes you have to get a bounce, and we locked it in well. You give up a goal and probably play 50 good minutes of that hockey game, that’s what we’re proud of and getting that two points was important to us and to me.”
The poised third period may have been an indication the Wings are maturing and understanding how to close out victories.
“You do grow into them, you have to experience them and to stay in them and be in them a lot,” McLellan said. “When I was here last year, there were some (close games) we were in but not a lot of them. We’re experiencing it more and we have more players that have been in those situations, App(leton) would be a prime example, and the more we experience it, hopefully the more we learn and the better we get.”
The Wings play Thursday in Pittsburgh in another back-to-back set of games.
tkulfan@detroitnews.com
@tkulfan
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