RECAP: Kubalik's three-point evening leads Red Wings past Ducks, 5-1

DETROIT --Dominik Kubalik is having a stellar start to the 2022-23 season, and he's making history in the process.

Kubalik had one power-play goal and two assists in the Detroit Red Wings' 5-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday evening at Little Caesars Arena. The 27-year-old forward has eight points (3-5--8) through his first five games with the franchise, the most since former Red Wings defenseman Paul Coffey had 10 (2-8--10) in five contests in 1992-93.
"I'm feeling good," said Kubalik, who recorded his third straight multi-point game. "I think the power play is clicking, which is huge."
Captain Dylan Larkin earned a power-play goal for his 150th career NHL goal and David Perron also scored on the man advantage, while Joe Veleno and Elmer Soderblom both found the back of the net at even strength to hand Anaheim its fifth straight loss.
Ville Husso finished with 32 saves for Detroit (3-0-2; 8 points), which extended its season-opening point streak to five games for the eighth time in club history and just the fourth time since the NHL's expansion era began in 1967-68.
"I think we're engaged when we're physical," head coach Derek Lalonde said. "And we were that tonight."
NEXT UP: The Red Wings will host the New Jersey Devils for Pride Night on Tuesday at Little Caesars Arena.

SCORING SUMMARY

Detroit 1, Anaheim 0 (2:02, 1st period)
After taking a pass from Moritz Seider, Kubalik put a one-timer on net that Ducks netminder Josh Gibson made the initial stop on, but Larkin quickly cleaned up the rebound. It was Larkin's third goal of the season and his second consecutive contest with a power-play goal.

Anaheim 1, Detroit 1 (5:31, 1st period)
Trevor Zegras, who finished second behind Seider in the 2021-22 Calder Memorial Trophy voting, poked home a loose puck in front of Detroit's crease to tie the game.
Detroit 2, Anaheim 1(13:28, 1st period)
Perron, assisted by Filip Hronek and Kubalik, squared up and unleashed a one-timer from the faceoff circle past Gibson for his team-leading fourth goal of the season.

Detroit 3, Anaheim 1 (4:07, 2nd period)
Adam Erne's centering feed went to Veleno on the rush, who sent the puck past Gibson for Veleno's first goal of the season. Pius Suter was also credited with an assist on the game's lone second-period tally.

Detroit 4, Anaheim 1 (3:44, 3rd period)
Larkin found Oskar Sundqvist near Anaheim's goal line, who passed the puck to Kubalik in the faceoff circle. Kubalik quickly converted a one-timer for his third goal of the season, while Sundqvist also earned his 100th career NHL point with a helper on the Red Wings' third power-play goal of the evening.

Detroit 5, Anaheim 1 (14:24, 3rd period)
Soderblom scored on a 2-on-1 off a rebound from Michael Rasmussen's initial shot for the second goal of his rookie campaign.

QUOTABLE

Lalonde on Sunday's victory
"We call this, in the profession, an 'assistant-coach' win because of the special teams. They were dynamite. A huge credit to what we're trying to do. We had a good night tonight."
Lalonde on the importance of depth
"You lose, arguably, two top-line forwards with (Robby) Fabbri and (Tyler) Bertuzzi. Then you throw (Jakub) Vrana in there, you lose three of your top six. That's gonna hurt anyone, and it's hurting us. But because of that depth, we have a competitive lineup."
Kubalik on the contributions from up and down the lineup
"Everyone's been playing pretty well. I think the power play is going and penalty kill, especially today, did a great job."
Husso on Detroit's penalty-kill unit so far this season
"Guys are doing a great job on the penalty kill by keeping the puck outside and making our game easy. We still could be better, but right now we need to keep rolling on the penalty kill."