DETROIT — For many reasons, the third period the Rangers put together Thursday night was essential. 

It was a relentless, merciless 20-minute effort that featured six goals and secured an 8-2 win over a Red Wings team that had stolen one in overtime at the Garden on Sunday. The Rangers avenged that loss Thursday and snapped a three-game losing streak in the process. 

The outpouring of offense spilled onto the ice as if someone had dropped a handful of Mentos into a bottle of Diet Coke: one after the other. And the Rangers, who have been gripping their sticks a little lately, just let it flow, because not only did it allow the club to pick up a much-needed victory, but also reminded the players what can happen when they compete as a cohesive unit. 

“We’ve lost the last two, in the fashion we did of blowing leads, it was a gut-check win for us tonight,” said Jimmy Vesey, who capped the scoring with a shorthanded goal late in that third period. “Two-two after the second period and I think everyone did a good job, all four lines contributed. Huge win for us and makes the dads’ trip a little better.” 

The Rangers entered the third period with the score tied for the seventh time in their last nine games, a product of loose team defense. This time, however, the Blueshirts were on the attack from the start of the period and played to the straight-line style they’ve talked about resuming. 

Adam Fox, who led the Rangers with four points, scored the go-ahead goal just over six minutes into the third period off a rocket shot from the top of the right faceoff circle. The floodgates opened from there and the Rangers received goals from all over the lineup, including one apiece from Barclay Goodrow, Julien Gauthier and Libor Hajek. 

“We took it to them and it just kept going in,” Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant said after the win, which improved the team’s record to 7-5-3. “It’s great for us to have a period like that, but I was more happy with how we played the game from start to finish.” 

Mika Zibanejad, who was skating in his 700th NHL game in the same city where he made his NHL debut with the Senators in 2011, scored his first two five-on-five goals of the season. After notching the first goal of the game in the first period, the Swedish center jabbed home a rebound for his second of the night in the middle of the Rangers’ goal frenzy in the third. 

The Rangers’ new-look top line of Zibanejad, Vesey and Chris Kreider generated some of the team’s best chances. Kreider, who has had some jump to his game since his brief demotion to the bottom six, tied the score at 2-2 with a power-play goal midway through the second period. It was the Kid Line, however, that generated momentum at several big moments. 

Alexis Lafreniere, Filip Chytil and Kaapo Kakko were reunited on a line together for the first time since the preseason and presented a reminder of why they forged one of the most impactful units during the playoffs last season. The trio held the zone more effectively than any other line had in the last few games, drew penalties and tired their opponents along the walls whenever given the opportunity. 

“It’s got to carry over to the next game,” Gallant said. “We did some good things, we can show some great clips, the guys saw it on the bench. People went to the net and got some opportunities. Now, it’s one period and we got six goals, but you got to keep doing that consistently.”