RECAP: Detroit's five-game road trip out West off to ‘a really good start' thanks to 5-2 win in St. Louis

ST. LOUIS -- An early deficit in enemy territory didn’t faze the Detroit Red Wings, who stayed composed and got contributions all over the ice on their way to a 5-2 win against the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center on Tuesday night.

“A really good start to the trip,” said Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin, who finished with two goals and an assist for his second multi-goal game and fourth multi-point performance of the season. “I think a good road game our of our team. That’s something we’ve been looking to do. The third point is a total team win. All the lines were good. All the D pairs played really solid and Gibby was great. We had a great third period as well. A lot of positives and a really good way to start the trip.”

Alex DeBrincat (one goal, two assists) and Lucas Raymond (two assists) also registered multi-point efforts for Detroit (7-3-0; 14 points), which was coming off a 6-4 victory over St. Louis (3-6-1; 7 points) at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday night.

“We draw up a pretty good gameplan before the games,” said Red Wings goalie John Gibson, who made 20 saves to earn his fourth win in his last five starts. “I think we’re just going out, executing it well, sticking to what works and playing connected.”

Although Detroit couldn’t prevent St. Louis’ Brayden Schenn from capitalizing on a fortunate rebound just 47 seconds into the contest, it found the back of the net twice in a span of 7:23 during the second half of the period to take a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.

“They came out with some intensity,” Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan said. “I’m not sure if the first three or four minutes of either the first or second period we were ready to match them, but I thought after that we played a pretty solid game.”

Detroit’s first goal of the opening frame was scored by Ben Chiarot, whose wrist shot from the blue line went off Justin Faulk and in for what also marked his first of the season at 12:01. Mason Appleton and Alex DeBrincat had the assists.

DeBrincat was next on the list to light the lamp, tipping in a shot from Moritz Seider on the power play with 36 seconds remaining in the first period. Larkin earned the secondary helper on DeBrincat’s second goal of the campaign and in as many contests.

“Sometimes they go in and sometimes they don’t,” said DeBrincat, who pushed his point streak to three consecutive games. “So, just got to keep going and keep shooting. I’m lucky enough to get the one today.”

Getting in on the goal-scoring action for his first of the night, Larkin got a piece of Simon Edvinsson’s feed after a face-off win to push the Red Wings ahead 3-1 at 11:14 of the second period. Lucas Raymond notched the secondary assist on the 29-year-old captain’s seventh tally of the campaign.

Larkin also became the eighth Michigan-born player in NHL history to score at least 250 career NHL goals, joining Mike Modano (561), Brian Rolston (342), Kyle Connor (289), Doug Weight (278), Jimmy Carson (275), Ryan Kesler (258) and DeBrincat (255).

Detroit wasn’t done there though, as Elmer Soderblom put home Michael Rasmussen’s behind-the-goal line pass only 1:42 later to push it to 4-1. Recording the secondary assist on Soderblom’s first goal of the season was James van Riemsdyk.

“There’s two of them there who hadn’t played in the last couple games,” McLellan said about the Red Wings’ fourth line on Tuesday. “Very hungry and very detailed in the game. Used their size, checked well. JVR seems to settle things down for them. That’s a pretty big strong, heavy line. They used it tonight.”

Jordan Kyrou cut the Blues’ deficit in half with a wrist shot from the slot to make it 4-2 at 15:36, but Larkin saw to it that the Red Wings would complete the sweep of the home-and-home series after netminder Jordan Binnington -- who finished with 15 saves -- was pulled for the extra skater. His empty-net goal, assisted by Lucas Raymond, at 18:53 sealed the 5-2 final and was his team-leading eighth tally of the season.

“That’s the standard for the trip,” Larkin said. “We showed we can play like that against a desperate team that played really hard, so we got to be ready to go in L.A., which is a tough building to play in.”

NEXT UP: Detroit will continue its five-game road trip out West with a matchup against the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena on Thursday night for the first half of a back-to-back set.

WHAT WAS SAID

Larkin on spreading out the offense

“It’s just so important to win as a team. Everyone contributes. Everyone feels good about themselves. Even some guys who weren’t on the scoresheet that were on it last game, so I think the offense is picking up. I couldn’t be more impressed with Ras’ line in the third period, the way they set it up down low and used their three big bodies. They scored a nice one in the second. That was an important goal for us.”

DeBrincat on Tuesday’s win

“It’s good to get the two points there. Obviously, a little bit of a rough start – first shift, a goal against -- but I thought we battled back well. Hammer, a great fight to get us in the game. That’s a good win.”

DeBrincat on shaking off the Blues’ early goal

“That’s more of a bad bounce than anything, so I guess we did a good job of keeping composure and staying with it. But sometimes, it’s going to happen. Goes off a guy’s foot and ends up right on his stick, so that’s a good way to battle back.”

Gibson on Detroit’s defensive effort in St. Louis

“I think we’ve been playing well. Some nights, maybe a couple bad bounces here and there but I felt like a really good effort from the group.”