RECAP: After grabbing first-period lead, Red Wings 'locked it down' for 3-1 victory over Flames

CALGARY -- The Detroit Red Wings stretched their winning streak to five consecutive games and swept the season series against the Calgary Flames for the third straight campaign with a 3-1 victory at Scotiabank Saddledome on Saturday night.

Goalie Cam Talbot made 33 saves for his ninth win in his last 10 games, helping Detroit (26-21-5; 57 points) also push its point streak to six in a row. Goaltender Dustin Wolf stopped 23 shots for Calgary (25-19-7; 57 points), which had entered the night boasting a 16-7-3 record on home ice this season.

“We’ve been gutting out a lot of wins lately,” Talbot said. “It’s nice to see that we can win in a lot of different ways. Sometimes, you pull it out when you don’t have your best. Give them a lot of credit. They came out hard, and we knew that they were going to. This is a tough building, and they just made that trade so you knew those new guys were going to come out here flying. Give our guys credit. We weathered the storm there at the beginning, got a couple big goals and locked it down from there.”

The Red Wings took a 2-0 lead into the visiting dressing room after the first period despite being outshot, 12-8.

“It’s great to have a two-goal lead after the first period, but I thought in the first five minutes there were opportunities for us to establish what we call our three-foot boundaries,” Detroit head coach Todd McLellan said. “I didn’t think we did that. I thought [Calgary] did it better than we did, but we talked about it between periods.”

Captain Dylan Larkin’s team-leading 23rd goal of the season got things going at 8:27 of the first period. Speeding into the slot, Larkin finished Christian Fischer’s backhand feed from along the wall with a quick snap shot past Wolf.

Dominik Shine registered his first NHL career point with the secondary assist on Larkin’s 53rd career game-opening goal. Originally signed by the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins as an undrafted free agent on March 14, 2017, Shine has collected 170 points (72 goals, 98 assists) in 462 games with them since 2016-17.

“It means the world,” Shine said. “We wanted a good start, so I was just pumped to be on the ice for that first one. To get that first point, it’s awesome.”

With 45 seconds left in the first period, Detroit doubled its lead when Simon Edvinsson’s shot from the left face-off circle clanged in off the goalpost. Jonatan Berggren and Elmer Soderblom assisted on Edvinsson’s fifth goal of the season.

“His legs get him into the play and when he gets in trouble, his legs get him out of it,” McLellan said about Edvinsson, who leads the club’s blueliners in goals this season. “Great sense of timing and joining the rush. A lot of D-men can do that, but sometimes they don’t arrive on time and they’re either too early or too late.”

The Flames also outshot the Red Wings in the second period, this time 13-8, but couldn’t get one past Talbot and the score went into the third still at 2-0 in Detroit’s favor.

“In the second period, I felt like we received the game a little bit,” McLellan said. “There was just a lot of flip outs, not a lot of connecting passes. We dealt with that in the third, but when we came out in the third I thought we were much better than the beginning of the first two [periods].”

Nazem Kadri broke up Talbot’s shutout bid and got Calgary within 2-1 with a power-play goal at 8:33, firing a shot that got through thanks to a moving screen by Blake Coleman.

Ensuring a happy late-night flight to Vancouver, Andrew Copp scored his 10th goal of the season by sending the puck into an empty net 19:06 of the third period for the 3-1 final. Assisted by Alex DeBrincat and Vladimir Tarasenko, Copp recorded his 10th goal of the season and became the fifth Red Wings skater to reach the double-digit goal total this season.

“We’re winning in a whole bunch of different ways right now and that’s what good teams do this time of year,” Talbot said. “We’re playing as good as anyone in the League right now, so we’re feeling pretty good.”

NEXT UP: The Red Wings will look to maintain their winning ways against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on Sunday night.

POSTGAME QUOTES

McLellan on Talbot’s night in net

“What more can I say? We needed Alex [Lyon] in Edmonton, and we needed Cam in Calgary. We’re going to need whoever we play tomorrow in Vancouver. It’s just the way our team is built right now and it’s how we play.”

Talbot on Shine's first NHL point and his recent play

“It’s such a feel-good story. He never wanted to play anywhere else but Grand Rapids, and to get an opportunity to come up here and don the Winged Wheel I know meant a lot to him. For us to see how excited he was and for how much hard work he’s put in to get to this point, you can see how much it means to him. We’re just trying to feed off that energy because it’s fun to watch.”

Shine on how Detroit battled its way to a win on Saturday

“I thought we started a little slow. Larks buried that one, and I thought we kind of rolled there. We fought them off the rest of the way. It’s a tough place to play, so we did a good job.”

Shine on the younger skaters contributing to the club’s success

“I’ve seen them all grow into the players that they are. They all work hard. They’re all great dudes. I love them, so I’m just so happy for them.”