Danielson, Larkin help Red Wings defeat Kraken to push point streak to 4

DETROIT -- Nate Danielson had a goal and an assist for his first two NHL points, and the Detroit Red Wings defeated the Seattle Kraken 4-2 at Little Caesars Arena on Tuesday.

The 21-year-old center recorded both milestones in the second period of his fifth NHL game, scoring Detroit’s second goal and setting up the third.

“I’m getting used to playing at this level, just like I had to get used to my first season of pro hockey last year,” said Danielson, selected by Detroit in the first round (No. 9) in the 2023 NHL Draft. “I’m definitely starting to feel comfortable and confident.”

Dylan Larkin scored for his 600th NHL point, Lucas Raymond had a goal and an assist, and Alex DeBrincat had two assists for Detroit (12-7-1), which is 3-0-1 in its past four games. Cam Talbot made 20 saves.

“This was a tough game to play because there was never any rhythm,” Red Wings coach Todd McLellan said. “It felt like the first team to score three goals was going to win, because there wasn’t much offense.”

Jordan Eberle and Ryker Evans scored for Seattle (9-5-5), which was 2-0-1 in its previous three games. Eeli Tolvanen had two assists, and Joey Daccord made 23 saves in his return after missing five games with an upper-body injury.

Eberle gave the Kraken a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 19:02 of the first period, tapping in Matty Beniers’s pass from the edge of the crease.

The Red Wings tied the game 1-1 at 1:19 of the second period when Raymond’s shot from the right face-off circle trickled under Daccord’s arm and into the net.

“I think Joey would want that one back,” Kraken coach Lane Lambert said.

Detroit took a 2-1 lead 45 seconds later when Axel Sandin-Pellikka’s point shot hit Mason Appleton before bouncing in off Danielson’s shin pad for his first NHL goal.

Danielson said he wasn’t disappointed by the ugly goal.

“I think it’s a good story the way it happened,” he said. “It wasn’t a pretty goal, but they all count.”

Danielson appeared to score again at 5:01, but the Kraken successfully challenged the play for offside.

Instead, it was Seattle tying the game 2-2 at 7:26 when Evans beat Talbot with a point shot through traffic.

Detroit, though, took a 3-2 lead at 10:56 on Emmitt Finnie’s fifth NHL goal. Danielson set up Finnie on the power play to pick up his first NHL assist.

“We got a great call from our video room to take a goal off the board and then we tied the game,” Lambert said. “But then we made a mistake on the penalty kill that we just can’t make.”

Tolvanen nearly tied the game with 3:35 left, but Talbot slid across the crease and gloved the puck inches from the goal line.

“I thought we did a good job of limiting their chances, but so did they,” Evans said. “They did a better job of capitalizing on the ones they got than we did.”

Larkin made it 4-2 with an empty-net goal at 19:30 to reach 600 NHL points (254 goals, 346 assists in 754 games).

“Not the prettiest goal for a milestone, but it means a lot to me to do it in this building,” the Detroit captain said. “Empty-net goals mean a lot, because if you miss an opportunity, the other team can come back and get back into the game.”

NOTES: Raymond extended his point streak to five games (two goals, eight assists), as did Larkin (four goals, two assists). DeBrincat had his goal streak end at three games ,but he has eight points (five goals, three assists) on a four-game point streak. … Larkin is the 11th Red Wings player to reach 600 points for the franchise. He is 33 points behind Brendan Shanahan for 10th place on the team’s career scoring list.