Hudler scores twice, Red Wings beat Jets 7-1

DETROIT -- Remember that six-game losing streak when the Red Wings couldn't buy a goal? Yeah, no one else does either. After Saturday night's 7-1 shellacking of the Winnipeg Jets, the team formerly known as the Atlanta Thrashers, the Wings have a nine-game home winning streak in which they've scored 43 goals. The Wings improved to 12-2-1 at home. They're just 6-7-0 on the road. The Jets actually scored the game's first goal, when Bryan Little beat goaltender Jimmy Howard through his five-hole 35 seconds into the game. But like the Phoenix Coyotes, who came in playing their third game in four nights, the Jets were a bit of a tired team. They beat the Carolina Hurricanes at home Friday night and arrived in Detroit around 3:30-4 in the morning. To their credit, the Wings took advantage of that, getting goals from Todd Bertuzzi (his second in two games) and Henrik Zetterberg to take a 2-1 lead after one. They never looked back. Jiri Hudler scored twice, Chris Conner got his first as a Wing, Valtteri Filppula continued his frenetic scoring pace with his 10th and Drew Miller had one as the Wings took it to the Jets the rest of the way. "I think next time it would be a lot different," Little said. "We learned what its like to play against one of the best teams in the league tonight. So far, theyve given us the best game, I think. Theyve been the toughest team weve played. Theyre smart with the puck and hang onto it. They make the easy plays. We can learn a lot from just watching them." Poor Ondrej Pavelec. The Jets goaltender was pulled after giving up the seventh goal 72 seconds into the third. "It seemed like everybody in the offensive zone (for Detroit) was open," Pavelec said. "They had Grade A play. They move very well in the zone. They handle the puck really well and sometimes they had scoring chances and would handle the puck, make a pass and get better scoring chances. We didnt deserve to win. Its very simple." For their part, the Wings would like to remember exactly what they've been doing at home and bring that with them to Pittsburgh and Nashville. "We've played with energy, we've forechecked, we got on top of people," coach Mike Babcock said. "We have to do the same on the road, whatever we're doing at home. Bottle it, take it on the road with us. We think we have a good hockey club, we think we're a team that's getting better and if you keep getting better, you have a chance." Pavel Datsyuk, who didn't play the third period against the Coyotes and did not practice Friday because of some lower-body issue, appeared just fine, particularly on Filppula's goal when he backhanded the puck to Filppula, who was waiting in the left circle. "That's an unbelievable pass," Filppula said. "Not a lot of guys make those passes but he definitely can. It was a really nice pass." Filppula, who had an assist on Zetterberg's goal, now has 10 goals and 15 assists in 27 games. He had 39 points (16 goals, 23 assists) in 71 games last season. In general, Filppula plays with Zetterberg and Hudler, a combination that Babcock has grown to love. "I think (Hudler), Z and Fil were a dominant line here tonight," Babcock said. "They seem to have a dimension of skill and ability to hang onto the puck. They're all playing well and they're all skating better, too. I don't know if it's playing with Fil that he skates so good, but I think Z's skating way better and I think Huds is, too." Not too many Red Wings were left off the scoresheet Saturday. Only Jakub Kindl, Justin Abdelkader, Jonathan Ericsson and Tomas Holmstrom did not register a point. "It's important to get scoring from a lot of guys, to have that depth so you're not relying on those top two lines to have to do it all the time," captain Nick Lidstrom said. "We've got a lot of players chipping in and not relying on Hank or Pav to do it all for us. It's great for the team confidence." Of course, not everyone is thinking about the team's success at home. "I'm thinking about holiday. You're talking about win," Datsyuk said. "Sooner or later it's going to be holiday time and snow coming. I miss snow."