Detroit forward Darren Helm scored two goals Thursday night, leading the Red Wings to a 5-2 win over the visiting Dallas Stars.
Helm opened and closed the game’s scoring for his first multi-goal game of the season.
At 3:58 of the first period, Helm threw a shot from the left of Dallas netminder Jussi Rynnas that bounced off the goalie and into the back of the net to get the Red Wings on the board early.
Just 15 seconds later, Colton Sceviour drove to the net to tap in a pass from Jordie Benn, tying things right back up.
Stephen Weiss restored the Detroit lead with 8:46 left in the opening period off tic-tac-toe passing from Tomas Jurco and Riley Sheahan. Jurco’s pass from the right wing boards found Sheahan in the opposite faceoff circle, where he immediately moved it back across to Weiss at the edge of the crease. Weiss held the puck for just a second before throwing it past the sprawling Rynnas.
With 1:08 left in the first, Pavel Datsyuk’s backhander from the slot made it 3-1 on a Detroit power play.
Tyler Seguin’s power play goal with 5:34 remaining in the middle period cut the Red Wings’ lead back to one. Seguin’s heavy shot from the blue line sailed through traffic and past Detroit goaltender Jimmy Howard to make it 3-2.
Kyle Quincey’s first of the year made it 4-2 at 7:39 of the third period. From the right point Quincey ripped a shot that seemed to deflect on its way through a Weiss screen, beating Rynnas.
With 6:53 left, Helm took a feed from Tomas Tatar all alone in close and outwaited Rynnas before throwing a shot past him to wrap up the scoring.
Rynnas finished the night with 24 saves on 29 shots while Howard stopped 22 of the 24 chances he faced.
Each team scored a power play goal on three chances with the extra attacker.
The Red Wings are back in action on Saturday when they host the New York Rangers.
Detroit was once again without forward Justin Abdelkader, out with a shoulder injury… Daniel Cleary and Brian Lashoff were healthy scratches for the Red Wings… During the pre-game skate, Cleary returned to wearing the #11 jersey he’d previously worn, made available once again by the retirement of Daniel Alfredsson.
