DETROIT _ Ken Holland's new team proved to be the perfect tonic for the Red Wings.
Dylan Larkin (power play) and Patrik Nemeth scored 52 seconds apart in the first period, and goaltender Jimmy Howard stopped 31 shots, as the Wings ended an eight-game winless streak Tuesday with a 3-1 victory over Edmonton.
Holland, the longtime Red Wings general manager who is now Edmonton's GM, was in town with his new team and received a warm ovation from Wings fans during a first-period video presentation.
"I feel really good about my time in Detroit," Holland said after Tuesday's morning skate. "I wish we could have gone to 28, 29 years (of making the playoffs consecutively) and then somebody tells me today that maybe you should have started a rebuild earlier.
"At the end of the day, rebuilds are painful and pretty well every franchise in the league is at some point in time going to have to go through it.
"That's the reality of a salary cap world."
Holland's memories will also be special.
"I moved here in 1994 and I lived in Detroit for 25 years. My memories would be about the people I worked with on the ice and off the ice and the fans, the passion of the fan base," Holland said. "It's an incredible fan base."
Edmonton (8-4-1) is off to a surprisingly good start, but having won only won of its last five games, the Oilers could be coming down to earth.
They proved to be the perfect opponent for the struggling Wings, who never really let the Oilers get going.
The Wings (4-8-1) contained star Edmonton forwards Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl until Draisaitl scored his 10th goal _ set up by McDavid _ at 12 minutes, 48 seconds of the third period, cutting the lead to 2-1.
But the Wings killed off a key 4-on-3 power play with just six minutes left, preserving the lead, and Filip Hronek clinched it with an empty-net goal with 41 seconds left.
The Wings now head for a two-game road trip to Carolina and Florida this weekend.
Larkin opened the scoring at 7:41 in the first period with his fourth goal.
Larkin took a pass from Taro Hirose near the side of the net, whirled inside and beat goalie Mikko Koskinen.
The Wings pushed the lead to 2-0 just 52 seconds later on Nemeth's first goal as a Wing.
Edmonton failed to clear the puck out of its zone, with a weak attempt landing on Nemeth's stick at the point.
Nemeth took a stride in and snapped a shot that beat Koskinen high glove side at 8:33.
Edmonton came into the game with the top-ranked power play (33.3 percent) in the NHL, but were shut down by the Wings late in the first period, another Oiler man advantage midway in the second period, and then the crucial 4-on-3 with six minutes to go with Draisaitl and McDavid skating dangerously with open ice.
The Wings came into the game ranked 29th on the penalty kill, but some adjustments over the past few days appeared to have helped.
"For a long time our penalty kill was doing a good job and pucks were going in," coach Jeff Blashill said after Monday's practice. "Lately the penalty kill hasn't been good. We've given (up) more seam passes than we had previous, without a doubt.
"It went for a bit where we were giving up the shots you're willing to give up and they went in, and sometimes that happens. But now we've given up too many seam-type passes and seam plays for goals.
"We have to get back and make sure we're better structurally."
Darren Helm, one of the Wings' primary penalty killers, believes it was a matter of confidence.
"This is a real good group that can kill off penalties," Helm said. "We just have to get that confidence back. I don't know if it's going to be going out there and getting 10 kills in a row, or it's just telling ourselves we can do it."
