RECAP: Red Wings know there’s ‘some stuff to clean up,’ but they’ll gladly take 4-3 win in Calgary and prepare for quick turnaround

CALGARY -- Although they extended their point streak to a season-high six consecutive games and captured their third win in a row on the road, the Detroit Red Wings acknowledged they'll need to tighten some things up after holding off the Calgary Flames for a 4-3 victory at Scotiabank Saddeldome on Wednesday night.

“We’re really happy that we got points,” Detroit head coach Todd McLellan said. “Obviously, when you’re on the road and playing in these buildings, it’s not an easy thing, but I certainly wouldn’t classify that as our A-game, even when we were up 4-0. Some of our game management skills came into question again. Good thing that Gibby was sharp, especially down the stretch.”

Goalie John Gibson, making his third straight start, stopped 34 shots to help the Red Wings (17-11-3; 37 points) improve to 8-5-2 on the road this season. Meanwhile, goaltender Devin Cooley made 23 saves for the Flames (12-16-4; 28 points), who saw their three-game winning streak come to an end.

“Definitely some stuff to clean up, but overall, we put ourselves in a good position to win that game,” said Alex DeBrincat, who finished with a goal and two assists. “Obviously, not ideal to give up three in the third but that’s the way it goes. We had four up on the board and usually that wins you games. I think we can clean up a little bit in our D-zone and cut off some things earlier than we were. I think we’ll spend more time in the O-zone if we do that.”

McLellan stressed the importance of getting off to a good start against Calgary following Wednesday’s morning skate, and Detroit did just that by tallying two first-period goals not even five minutes into the action.

“They’re a very scrappy team,” McLellan said. “We’ve done some pre-scouting – they’ve done better with the lead. It was important for us to get it.”

The Red Wings’ third shot of the night --- a one-timer blast from the left face-off circle by DeBrincat -- beat Cooley to make it 1-0 at 1:02. Patrick Kane had just crossed Calgary’s blue line when he got Andrew Copp’s pass from the neutral zone, and the 37-year-old forward skated to the top of the right face-off circle before slipping a backhand feed across the slot to DeBrincat.

“I’ve seen that one a couple times,” DeBrincat said about Kane’s feed to him on his first goal of the night. “When you’re playing with him you’ve always got to be ready. Him holding it on his backhand like that, I think he sees me over there, so I’m definitely ready to shoot that.”

Axel Sandin-Pellikka doubled things up, ripping home a one-timer of his own from the left face-off circle to make it 2-0 just 3:31 after DeBrincat scored his first of the night. The helpers on Sandin-Pellikka’s third goal of the season went to DeBrincat and Kane, giving them each a two-point opening frame.

“He’s got confidence,” Copp said about Sandin-Pellikka. “He’s got a great shot and can move the puck. The more reps he gets, the better he’ll be. If he can execute at that level, breaking the puck out throughout the whole game, he’s going to be a very dangerous player in this League.”

Detroit didn’t slow down after the first intermission, scoring two more goals in a span of 1:28 just prior to the 10-minute mark of the second period to grab a 4-0 advantage.

At 7:41, DeBrincat scored his second goal of the game with a wrist shot from the slot after Copp forced a turnover along the wall and sent him the puck. That also marked DeBrincat’s 16th of the campaign.

Then, after turning on the jets to speed into Calgary’s offensive zone, captain Dylan Larkin wristed in a shot from the slot for his team-leading 17th tally of the season at 9:09. Lucas Raymond picked up the lone assist.

“Your leader has to be a driver,” McLellan said. “Not every night, but he has to be there most nights. [Larkin] has proven to do that time and time again this year.”

Spoiling Gibson’s shutout bid in the third period, Joel Farabee pot a short-handed penalty shot at 8:02 before Matt Coronato capitalized on a setup by Nazem Kadri on an odd-man rush just 65 seconds later to pull the Flames within 4-2.

Calgary made it a one-goal game with 5:20 remaining in the final frame, as MacKenzie Weegar one-timed Rasmus Andersson’s pass through some traffic and into twine to get it to 4-3. That certainly tightened things up, but the Red Wings were able to finish the job.

“We’re not in the business of being mad about wins, but we have a higher standard than that,” Copp said. “We’re going to need to show it tomorrow night.”

NEXT UP: Detroit will wrap up its midweek back-to-back set when it visits the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place on Thursday night.

WHAT WAS SAID

McLellan on the DeBrincat, Copp and Kane line

“They were very good the whole night, easily our best offensively and defensively. I thought Andrew Copp, perhaps, played his best game of the season. Cat and Kane are very good with each other, so the three of them had a grade-A night in my opinion.”

Copp on how he saw Wednesday’s game play out

“A win’s a win. Stacking wins at this point, you’re never going to turn down two points. Our process needs to be a lot better. After the first ten minutes, we stopped skating. We didn’t really have that much O-zone pressure. We kind of got some rushes and scored, but just our execution coming out of our zone wasn’t good.”

DeBrincat on Sandin-Pellikka’s offensive game

“He’s great. In the O-zone, he moves so well. Very smart with the puck, so when you’re playing out there with him it’s nice to get him the puck up there and he can make some plays. He moves really well, so it’s fun to play with him.”