Kubalik's three points help Red Wings defeat Ducks

DETROIT -- Dominik Kubalik had a goal and two assists, and the Detroit Red Wings extended their season-opening point streak to five games with a 5-1 win against the Anaheim Ducks at Little Caesars Arena on Sunday.

Kubalik has eight points (three goals, five assists) in his first five games with the Red Wings, the most since Paul Coffey had 10 (two goals, eight assists) in five games after joining the team on Jan. 29, 1993.
"I don't know why, but I'm feeling good," said Kubalik, who signed a two-year contract with Detroit on July 13. "The power play is clicking, and that's huge. We're not doing anything spectacular, we're just giving the puck to someone who is in a better position."

Dylan Larkin had a goal and an assist for the Red Wings (3-0-2), who went 3-for-5 on the power play. Ville Husso made 31 saves.
"In the profession, we call this an assistant coach's win because of the special teams," Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said. "They were dynamite, and that's all the work of Alex Tanguay and Jay Varady."
This is the first time Detroit has earned a point in its first five games since 2011-12 (5-0-0).
"There are things we could be doing better. There are always little things, I guess," Husso said. "But right now, the penalty kill is rolling and guys are blocking shots. That's super good for me."

Trevor Zegras scored for Anaheim (1-4-1), which finished its road trip 0-4-1. John Gibson made 36 saves.
"There are a lot of similarities to these games," Ducks forward Adam Henrique said. "We're taking four or five penalties a night and giving up 40 shots. There have been some better stretches, but that's not enough in this league."

Larkin gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead at 2:02 of the first period, scoring his 150th NHL goal on the power play.
"On the first shift of the game, we take a penalty that has nothing to do with saving a goal," Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said. "The only time you want to take a penalty in this league is if you're going to break up a goal, but we put ourselves off kilter right away and the killers weren't good enough."
Zegras put in a rebound to tie it 1-1 at 5:31, but David Perron put Detroit back in front 2-1 with another power-play goal at 13:28.
"We need depth, and those goals are the perfect example," Lalonde said. "We've lost arguably two top-six forwards in (Robby) Fabbri and (Tyler) Bertuzzi. Throw (Jakub) Vrana in there and we've lost three of our top six. That's going to hurt anyone and it is hurting us, but because of depth, we have a competitive lineup."
The Red Wings killed off a 5-on-3 power play for 1:43 late in the period.
"We went offside on a 5-on-3," Ducks forward Ryan Strome said. "That should never happen. We never even got set up, to be honest. We flung the puck at the net a couple times, but we have to execute. This is embarrassing."
Joe Veleno gave Detroit a 3-1 lead at 4:07 of the second period when he got free of Jamie Drysdale and tipped in Adam Erne's pass.
Kubalik scored Detroit's third power-play goal of the game to put them ahead 4-1 at 3:44 of the third period, and Elmer Soderblom scored his second NHL goal at 14:24 for the 5-1 final.
NOTE:The Red Wings hadn't scored three power-play goals in a game since getting four in an 8-2 win against the Calgary Flames on Nov. 15, 2017.