Jets Visit Red Wings With Larkin and Kasper Out

Winnipeg visits Detroit with Dylan Larkin and Marco Kasper out as both teams search for their first win of the season.

Winnipeg and Detroit arrive at Sunday afternoon from different kinds of opening losses. The Jets scored three times, led Boston late and still lost 4-3 in overtime. The Red Wings defended well enough to stay within one goal for almost the entire night against the Rangers, then finished a 2-0 loss without scoring at all.

The injuries and absences around those results matter more than the records themselves. Detroit will play without Dylan Larkin and Marco Kasper, stripping two natural centres from a lineup already trying to establish new combinations. Winnipeg is beginning life without Connor Hellebuyck in goal, with Stuart Skinner taking over the crease after Hellebuyck failed to report to training camp and was suspended by the club.

That leaves two flawed teams trying to exploit very different weaknesses. Winnipeg still has most of its established scoring core. Detroit still has John Gibson and a defense capable of keeping games close. Sunday’s winner may simply be the team whose missing piece matters less.

Winnipeg Let Its Opener Get Away

The Jets were 98 seconds from opening the season with a regulation win over Boston. Mario Ferraro scored with eight seconds left in the second period to give Winnipeg a 3-2 lead, and that advantage survived almost the entire third.

Elias Lindholm tied it with 1:38 remaining after Boston pulled Jeremy Swayman for an extra attacker. JJ Peterka then ended the game 3:21 into overtime, beating Skinner on a breakaway to complete the Bruins’ comeback.

The loss still contained useful signs for Winnipeg. The Jets put 33 shots on goal, Kyle Connor scored and added an assist, and Dylan DeMelo and Ferraro supplied offense from the blue line. Winnipeg generated enough to win without needing Mark Scheifele or Gabriel Vilardi to produce a goal.

The failure came in protecting the final minutes. Boston stayed within one goal long enough to create one last six-on-five sequence, then converted the overtime chance Winnipeg gave it.

Connor Is Already Driving the Offense

Connor remains the obvious problem Detroit has to solve first. His power-play goal against Boston extended his NHL record to goals in nine consecutive season openers, and his nine shots led Winnipeg by a wide margin.

The Jets can build their first line around Connor, Scheifele and Cole Perfetti without changing much from the structure that produced most of their offense last season. Scheifele finished 2025-26 with 36 goals and 103 points, while Connor had 39 goals and 92 points. Vilardi gives Winnipeg another established finisher behind them.

Detroit’s best defensive work Sunday will therefore begin before Winnipeg reaches the slot. Moritz Seider and the Red Wings need clean exits, controlled neutral-zone gaps and fewer opportunities for Connor to attack off possession changes. Letting Winnipeg’s top forwards enter with speed creates a much harder game than forcing them to retrieve pucks and build from below the goal line.

Detroit Has a Problem Down the Middle

Larkin will miss his second straight game with an upper-body injury. Detroit hopes he can return Tuesday against Ottawa, but Sunday again belongs to a lineup without the centre who normally handles the hardest minutes, drives transition and anchors the first power-play unit.

Kasper is also unavailable after finishing Friday’s loss against New York and then undergoing further evaluation. That pushes Andrew Copp between Alex DeBrincat and Lucas Raymond on the first line while Emmitt Finnie, J.T. Compher and Nate Danielson absorb more work through the middle.

The difficulty showed against the Rangers. Detroit managed 22 shots and only two in the third period. The Red Wings went 0-for-2 on the power play and struggled to turn defensive stops into sustained possession at the other end.

DeBrincat and Raymond remain dangerous enough to change a game, but both become easier to contain when Detroit cannot consistently carry the puck through centre ice with control. Winnipeg’s forward depth gives the Jets a chance to pressure those replacement combinations throughout the afternoon.

Gibson Kept Detroit in the Opener

Detroit’s opening result could have looked much worse without Gibson. He stopped 19 of the 20 shots he faced before New York added an empty-net goal, and the Red Wings remained within one shot of tying the game until the final minutes.

That is probably Detroit’s most realistic blueprint again. The Red Wings do not need Gibson to steal a game in which Winnipeg controls everything, but they need him to keep the score compressed while an undermanned offense tries to manufacture two or three goals.

Detroit also defended the Rangers reasonably well at five-on-five. New York’s only goal against Gibson came on the power play, and another apparent power-play goal was erased after Detroit successfully challenged for offside. The defensive structure was good enough to create a winnable game. The offense never supplied the other half.

Skinner Has to Replace an Enormous Safety Net

Winnipeg’s goaltending question is much larger than one game. Hellebuyck requested a trade during the offseason and did not report to training camp, leading the Jets to suspend him. The club has left the door open for a return, but the current roster is being built around Skinner handling the No. 1 role.

That changes the margin available to Winnipeg’s defense. Hellebuyck won three Vezina Trophies over the past decade and captured the Hart Trophy in 2025. Replacing that kind of goaltending requires either a major step forward from Skinner or improvement throughout the rest of the team.

Skinner stopped 26 of 30 shots against Boston. He made enough saves for Winnipeg to lead late, while the tying goal and overtime breakaway still left the Jets with four against. Detroit’s depleted centre group gives him a friendlier second assignment because the Red Wings just showed how difficult generating offense can become without Larkin.

Detroit Needs More From Its Power Play

Special teams offer Detroit one way around its five-on-five problems. DeBrincat and Raymond can create enough from the flanks to punish Winnipeg if the Jets give them repeated opportunities, and Seider gives the unit a strong puck-moving option from the point.

The opening game produced nothing from two chances. Larkin’s absence changes the entries, faceoffs and distribution patterns Detroit normally uses, making every possession slightly harder to organize. Against Winnipeg, the Red Wings need cleaner entries and quicker movement before the Jets’ penalty killers can set their shape.

Winnipeg converted one of four power-play opportunities against Boston, with Connor finishing a scramble around the crease. Detroit cannot afford to spend an afternoon defending that group while asking a depleted offense to chase from behind.

The Jets Have More Ways to Score

The difference between the forward groups becomes clearer once the injuries are included. Winnipeg can start with Connor, Scheifele and Perfetti, then send out Vilardi behind them. Adam Lowry, Nino Niederreiter and Vladislav Namestnikov give Scott Arniel experienced options farther down the lineup.

Detroit’s top-end wings can match some of that skill. DeBrincat scored 41 goals last season, while Raymond had 51 assists. The problem comes from connecting those players to the rest of the ice while Larkin and Kasper are unavailable.

Copp can handle NHL centre minutes, but moving him onto the first line creates consequences elsewhere. Compher receives tougher assignments. Younger players get more responsibility. Detroit has to solve several lines at once because the players missing happen to occupy the position that organizes all of them.

Winnipeg Still Has Defensive Questions

The Jets should have more offense available Sunday, but their own opener offered Detroit enough encouragement. Boston generated 30 shots and erased two separate Winnipeg leads, including the one that survived until the final two minutes.

The Bruins also found space around the crease and created the overtime winner on a clean breakaway. Those are exactly the kinds of moments Detroit needs to manufacture while its half-court equivalent of sustained offensive-zone possession remains limited.

Raymond and DeBrincat can still turn one turnover or one poor line change into a goal. Winnipeg’s advantage lies in having more players capable of creating those moments, so the Jets need to avoid giving Detroit an easy route into a low-scoring game where one mistake decides everything.

Both Teams Need the First Goal

Detroit spent almost 55 minutes chasing a one-goal deficit Friday and never found the equalizer. Playing from behind again would put immediate pressure on an offense that is still trying to function without two centres.

Winnipeg has its own reason to value an early lead. The Jets scored first against Boston, regained the lead twice and still watched the game slip away. Getting ahead in Detroit gives them another chance to prove they can control a result rather than continually reopening it.

The opening period should therefore tell us quite a bit. If Winnipeg establishes its top line and forces Detroit to chase, the Red Wings’ missing centre depth becomes increasingly visible. If Gibson keeps it scoreless and Detroit finds the first goal, the pressure shifts directly onto Skinner and a Jets team still adjusting to life without Hellebuyck.

Winnipeg Has the Better Path to Three Goals

Detroit can keep this game close. Gibson showed that in the opener, and Seider gives the Red Wings a defender capable of handling difficult minutes against Winnipeg’s best forwards. The home team does not need much offense if the game stays around 1-1 deep into the third.

Winnipeg simply has more established ways to reach the number likely required to win. Connor and Scheifele remain intact. Perfetti and Vilardi give the Jets additional creation. Detroit is asking DeBrincat and Raymond to produce while the structure around them has been weakened at the most important forward position.

Prediction: Winnipeg Jets 3, Detroit Red Wings 2. Gibson should give Detroit a chance to stay within one goal, but Winnipeg’s deeper group of proven scorers gives the Jets the better route through a close game. Skinner does not have to reproduce Hellebuyck’s standard Sunday. He only has to give Connor, Scheifele and the rest of Winnipeg’s offense enough room to score one more than a depleted Detroit lineup.

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