Red Wings defeat Senators in DeBrincat return to Ottawa

OTTAWA -- Dylan Larkin had a goal and two assists for the Detroit Red Wings in their fourth straight win, 5-2 against the Ottawa Senators at Canadian Tire Centre on Saturday.

Joe Veleno scored twice, Shayne Gostisbehere and David Perron each had a goal and an assist and Ville Husso made 35 saves for Detroit (4-1-0), which was 3-for-5 on the power play and 5-for-6 on the penalty kill.

"Special teams were a big part of the game," Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said. "Obviously, the power play and penalty kill and, I thought, our 5-on-5 improved as we went on. All in all, a really good road win against a top team."

Alex DeBrincat had one shot on goal in 16:22 of ice time in his return to Ottawa. The Senators traded the forward to Detroit on July 9 for forward Dominik Kubalik, defenseman prospect Donovan Sebrango and two picks in the 2024 NHL Draft.

"It's nice to get it over with," DeBrincat said, "but also at the same time, it's still fresh and I think maybe a little later in the year, wouldn't have been such a big story. … It's good to get the win here and move on."

Jake Sanderson and Ridly Greig scored, and Joonas Korpisalo made 18 saves for Ottawa (3-2-0), which had won three straight.

"We're in the same boat, but they just showed that they're better than us tonight," Senators captain Brady Tkachuk said. "That's frustrating, disappointing and we're just going to have to learn from it."

Ottawa outshot Detroit 14-3 in the first period and 28-11 through two periods.

"They scored on almost every chance they got there," Korpisalo said. "They were on the [power play] quite a bit. … I've got to provide the team with more saves."

Sanderson one-timed a pass from Tkachuk from the point on the power play to give the Senators a 1-0 lead at 16:54 of the first before the Red Wings scored the next five goals.

Gostisbehere tied it 1-1 at 18:15 when he one-timed a centering pass from Larkin in the slot on the power play.

"I really liked how we handled some adversity tonight," Lalonde said. "The first adversity of being on our heels, which is going to happen when you're on the road against a very good team that kind of, I wouldn't say jumped us, but they were all over us early."

Veleno gave Detroit a 2-1 lead at 4:18 of the second when he scored off a no-look, behind-the-back pass from Christian Fischer from behind the goal line.

Perron took a centering pass from Larkin in the right slot and beat Korpisalo with a quick shot on the power play to make it 3-1 at 14:54.

"Second period's got to be better," Greig said. "We can't get outworked like that in our building. Hopefully it doesn't happen again."

Larkin made it 4-1 just 28 seconds into the third period with a wrist shot from the slot on the power play.

"We had some big-time breakdowns on the penalty kill," Ottawa coach D.J. Smith said. "We took too many penalties, but you've got to kill them. And we just didn't look good in that department."

The Red Wings extended the lead to 5-1 at 7:23 scoring off a turnover when Veleno took a cross-ice pass from Daniel Sprong on the rush and scored short side on Korpisalo. It was Veleno's first two-goal game in the NHL.

"It was obviously two great players that made two awesome plays for me," Veleno said of his two goals. "I was happy I was able to be in the right spot at the right time."

Greig scored on a wrist shot at 8:49 for the 5-2 final.

"Definitely not the effort we want, ever," Tkachuk said. "I don't think that will happen again."

The Red Wings lost back-to-back games at the Senators last season (6-2 on Feb. 27; 6-1 on Feb. 28), which began a 7-15-2 stretch to end the season.

"We all remember what happened when we came in here last year," Veleno said. "We didn't want to let that happen again. I think we came prepared. We knew what we were facing. They're a [heck] of a team down there and I think they will be for a while. We came to play today."

NOTES: Larkin has nine points (two goals, seven assists) during a five-game point streak, and Gostisbehere has six points (two goals, four assists) during a five-game point streak. … Detroit had lost its past five games at Ottawa, dating to Oct. 23, 2019. … The Red Wings have their most wins through the first five games of a season since 2017-18 (also 4-1-0). … Detroit has scored 24 goals, the third-most in its first five games of a season (25 in 1942-43 and 1972-73). … Senators forward Tim Stutzle did not have a point for the first time in five games this season.