RECAP: Red Wings ‘gut out’ 3-2 shootout win in San Jose

SAN JOSE -- Needing more than overtime to pick up two big points on the road for the second time in their last three games, the Detroit Red Wings captured a 3-2 shootout win against the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center on Sunday night.

“It’s never an easy win in this building,” said goalie Cam Talbot, who finished with 16 saves and stopped all four shootout attempts he faced. “You know you’re going to have to come in and compete, limit their chances off the rush and gut out a win here. That’s exactly what we did.”

Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond each lit the lamp to extend their individual point streaks to four consecutive games as the Red Wings (9-4-0; 18 points) improved to a perfect 8-0-0 when leading after 40 minutes this season. Netminder Alex Nedeljkovic made 29 saves for the Sharks (4-6-3; 11 points).

“Happy to get out of here with two points,” Detroit head coach McLellan said. “San Jose is obviously retooling and rebuilding a little bit, but they just took points from Colorado and New Jersey. A tough team to play against.”

The Red Wings had two power-play opportunities in the opening frame, but the Sharks fended off both and neither club managed to find the back of the net when it came time for the first intermission.

“I thought we kind of had a mixed bag to start,” McLellan said. “We weren’t playing the type of game that we wanted to play. We were getting a little bit cute with stickhandling a lot in the offensive zone. In the second period, we started to throw stuff towards the net, and it opened up for us a little bit.”

At long last, with just under two minutes left in the second period, Detroit opened the scoring, with Raymond’s fourth goal of the campaign to thank. Captain Dylan Larkin’s pass from the right corner went to Axel Sandin-Pellikka, who carried the puck above the high slot before finding Raymond. After veering around Dmitry Orlov, Raymond ripped a wrist shot past Nedeljkovic for a 1-0 lead at 18:05.

The Sharks evened the score only 49 seconds into the third period though, when Philipp Kurashev flung the puck towards the slot where Jeff Skinner was crashing the net and he tipped it behind Talbot to make it 1-1.

Restoring Detroit’s lead, Moritz Seider rifled a seeing-eyed shot from the point past Nedeljkovic to make it 2-1 at 10:16 of the third period. Simon Edvinsson and Alex DeBrincat assisted on Seider’s first goal of the season.

For DeBrincat, that also extended his point streak to six consecutive contests.

“He’s dynamic,” McLellan said about Seider. “He can go anywhere he wants with the puck. I’m glad that he got that shot through because some of his shots have been getting blocked lately. Maybe that’ll encourage him to use the shot that he has. It’s a powerful one and often accurate. When there’s traffic there, it’s going to be hard to stop. He got a reward tonight, and I’d like to think he’ll keep doing what he did.”

With San Jose trailing by one with only 3:05 remaining, Sam Dickinson’s first career NHL goal – a one-timer from the slot off feed from Will Smith behind the goal line – tied it 2-2 to send things beyond regulation.

“They’ve got some pretty good players,” McLellan said. “They capitalized on a few of their opportunities, and all of a sudden it’s a game.”

After no winner was determined in the extra frame, van Riemsdyk netted the only goal in a four-round shootout. Not only was that van Riemsdyk's first shootout tally or attempt in a Red Wings sweater, but it also secured a winning record for Detroit on its current five-game road trip out West.

“A huge game for us to set ourselves up nicely to have a really strong road trip,” van Riemsdyk said. “Just finding a way to get the extra point there was huge for us, and we got to keep things rolling along here.”

NEXT UP: The Red Wings will play the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday night.

WHAT WAS SAID

McLellan on the importance of Detroit’s face-offs on Sunday

“Important to start with the puck. It’s hard on skill when they’re in their battling. Celebrini and Wennberg took a lot of their face-offs. That initial battle, if you don’t win it, it’s draining. We talked about trying to wear them down a little bit, them having played last night, so a good job in the circle.”

van Riemsdyk on Sunday’s successful road-game recipe

“That’s a recipe, to be honest, no matter what for us, is just trying to play pretty predictable, direct straightforward and just kind of let our abilities take over from that. I find that’s when we’re playing our best, is when we’re all predictable

van Riemsdyk on Talbot’s play on this road trek

“Him and Gibby have both been rocks for us for whole year. Tonight, what a game he played. I think both of those guys, we have a lot of confidence in them. Just the way they’ve been playing, you can feel through the bench and the team.”

Talbot on navigating another shootout in less than a week

“It’s not the way you always want to end a game, but anytime you’re able to pot one or two and just go out there, try to stay patient, make the saves and give the guys a chance. I feel like I’ve been able to do that the past couple of games.”