Red Wings coast to 5-1 win over Utah, snap six-game road skid

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Alex Lyon made 16 saves in relief of injured starter Petr Mrazek, powering the Detroit Red Wings to a 5-1 victory over the Utah Hockey Club on Monday night.

Lyon took over at goalie after Mrazek exited just 1:38 into the game with an apparent lower body injury. Dylan Guenther collided with Mrazek in the net at the tail end of a breakaway shot attempt. Mrazek limped off the ice after the play and went straight to the locker room.

Elmer Soderblom, Marco Kasper, Austin Watson, Alex DeBrincat and Tyler Motte all scored to help Detroit snap a six-game skid away from home.

Guenther reached 100 career points, scoring his 26th goal of the season for Utah. Karel Vejmelka made nine stops in his career-high 14th straight start.

Utah took a 1-0 lead at the 3:46 of the first on Guenther’s power-play goal. Soderblom equalized on a slap shot just 82 seconds later.

A fortunate bounce put the Red Wings ahead at the 1:34 mark of the second. Kasper snapped the puck toward Lawson Crouse and it careened off his leg and into the net.

Watson, DeBrincat and Motte scored in the third period for Detroit. It was DeBrincat's 33rd goal of the season.

Red Wings: Detroit defended the power play well, going 4 for 5 on the penalty kill.

Utah: Clayton Keller, who assisted on Guenther’s goal, has an NHL best 21 power-play assists and 27 power-play points since Dec. 8.

Kasper’s shot bouncing off Crouse’s leg for a goal turned momentum squarely in Detroit’s favor over the final two periods.

The Red Wings totaled only five shots on goal through the first two periods.

Detroit is at Colorado on Tuesday. Utah is at Tampa Bay on Thursday.

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Utah Hockey Club goaltender Karel Vejmelka (70) stops the puck against the Vancouver Canucks during the third period of an NHL hockey game in Vancouver, British Columbia, Sunday, March 16, 2025. (Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press via AP)

Detroit Red Wings defenseman Simon Edvinsson skates with the puck during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Vegas Golden Knights, Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Jose Juarez)

Detroit Red Wings goaltender Petr Mrazek (43) stops the puck during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Washington Capitals, Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Detroit Red Wings right wing Alex DeBrincat (93) celebrates with teammates after his goal during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Vegas Golden Knights, Saturday, March 22, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ian Maule)

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — A former Polish justice minister who faces prosecution in his homeland over alleged abuse of power said Monday that he has been granted asylum in Hungary.

Zbigniew Ziobro was a key figure in the government led by the nationalist conservative Law and Justice party that ran Poland between 2015 and 2023. That administration established political control over key judicial institutions by stacking higher courts with friendly judges and punishing its critics with disciplinary action or assignments to far-away locations.

Current Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government came to power more than two years ago with ambitions to roll back the changes, but efforts to undo them have been blocked by two successive presidents aligned with the national right.

In October, prosecutors requested the lifting of Ziobro's parliamentary immunity to press charges against him. They allege among other things that Ziobro misused a fund for victims of violence, including for the purchase of Israeli Pegasus surveillance software.

Tusk’s party says Law and Justice used Pegasus to spy illegally on political opponents while in power. Ziobro says he acted lawfully.

Hungary, led by nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, has hosted several politicians close to Law and Justice while Polish authorities were seeking them.

In a lengthy post on X Monday, Ziobro wrote that he had “decided to accept the asylum granted to me by the government of Hungary due to the political persecution in Poland.”

“I have decided to remain abroad until genuine guarantees of the rule of law are restored in Poland,” he said. “I believe that instead of acquiescing to being silenced and subjected to a torrent of lies — which I would have no opportunity to refute — I can do more by fighting the mounting lawlessness in Poland.”

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in Budapest on Monday that Hungarian authorities have granted asylum to “several” individuals who would face political persecution in Poland, according to his ministry. He declined to specify their names.

In an English-language post on X, Tusk wrote that “the former Minister of Justice(!), Mr. Ziobro, who was the mastermind of the political corruption system, has asked the government of Victor Orbán for political asylum.”

“A logical choice,” he added.

FILE - The leader of the Polish junior coalition partners Zbigniew Ziobro, speaks to reporters alongside in Warsaw, Poland, Saturday, Sept. 26, 2020. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski, file)