RECAP: Detroit ‘stayed in the battle and got one late’ to defeat Seatle, 4-3

SEATTLE -- Picking up the first win of their season-long six-game road trip and stretching their point streak to four straight contests, the Detroit Red Wings rallied to defeat the Seattle Kraken, 4-3, at Climate Pledge Arena on Saturday night.

“I think we’d like to play better, and I think that can start with me,” said Patrick Kane, who scored the go-ahead goal with 2:29 left in regulation. “I wasn’t very good tonight, but sometimes you don’t have your best and you can find ways to win on the road. That’s a good skill to have.”

Between the pipes, goalie John Gibson made 24 saves for the Red Wings (15-11-3; 33 points) while goaltender Joey Daccord finished with 21 for the Kraken (11-9-6; 28 points).

“I liked our start,” Detroit head coach Todd McLellan said. “I thought we got out of the gate okay against a team that was going to be desperate. The game played out as I thought. I thought it would be close-checking. A little disappointed in our D-zone coverage in the second, but we certainly cleaned it up in the third. Didn’t give up that much, weren’t in our end for extended periods and patient enough to wait for an opportunity to score. That was better.”

The Red Wings, on the night’s first power play, saw their trio of rookies – each of whom was taken in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft – factor on the game-opening goal at 7:06 of the first period. Nate Danielson received Axel Sandin-Pellikka’s pass in the middle of the left face-off circle and slid the puck to Emmitte Finnie, whose one-timer in the opposite circle made it 1-0. It was Finnie's sixth tally of the season.

“Our power play has been pretty good,” Andrew Copp said. “It’s been huge for us, in terms of getting momentum for the team, and producing as well. The start was going to be important no matter what.”

Applying pressure on Detroit later in the frame, Seattle lit the lamp when Brandon Montour took the puck to just above the right face-off circle and used a screen to wrist a shot past Gibson to tie it 1-1 at 16:16.

Copp’s second of the campaign at 5:10 of the second period wasn’t initially ruled a goal on the ice, so play continued a little bit after he poked home a loose puck before official review confirmed the Red Wings had went back in front 2-1. The assists were credited to Simon Edvinsson and Moritz Seider.

“I was kind of blocked from seeing it,” Copp said about his goal. “Cat said it right away though. It was kind of a weird shift after that. He was pretty convinced that it was going to be a goal. I was waiting for the buzzer to go and it never did, then we went to replay.”

Later in the middle stanza, after a point shot by Adam Larsson slipped through traffic and evened things up at two apiece at 6:44, another point shot by the 33-year-old forward exactly six minutes later deflected off Chandler Stephenson and into the cage to give the Kraken a 3-2 advantage.

“We were not playing well in the second half of the second period,” Copp admitted. “They were buzzing around. We were very lackadaisical with the puck. We weren’t closing on guys in the defensive zone.”

But finding twine for the third game in a row, James van Riemsdyk wristed one by the glvoe of Daccord on a 2-on-1 rush to tie it 3-3 with 28 seconds left in the second period. J.T. Compher and Edvinsson recorded the helpers on van Riemsdyk’s sixth goal of the campaign.

“I was just looking pass pretty much the whole way,” said van Riemsdyk, who matched the longest goal streak of his NHL career. “I thought the D did a good job of taking that away, and that’s usually kind of my last resort is firing it in on the far side. Thankfully, it went in.”

Both teams would then go scoreless until late in the final frame when Kane broke the tie, scoring his fifth goal of the season and 497th of his NHL career. After taking a feed from Alex DeBrincat off the rush, the veteran forward wristed a shot into the top-right corner for what also marked his 83rd career game-winning tally.

“I coughed it up in the zone right before that,” Kane said with a chuckle. “We did a good job defensively. Cat got the puck and skated it up the ice, kind of drew a couple guys to him. Copper was driving to the net. That’s a huge part of the play…I tried to find the pocket, got the puck and at that point you’re just trying to shoot it through the defenseman and get it on net.”

NEXT UP: The Red Wings and Vancouver Canucks will go head-to-head at Rogers Arena on Monday night.

McLellan on van Riemsdyk and Kane playing key roles in Saturday’s win

“James has such a patient game. You can tell he’s played a long, long time. Even at the end, with getting the puck out off the glass – no panic in his game. He did a real good job on the entry. Then Kaner, to go down.. I thought Copper did a real good job to open up some ice and distract the goaltender. Kaner has that wrist shot to finish it.”

Copp on Detroit’s start to Saturday’s game

“Coming all the way out here from the East Coast after the game [on Thursday night], clocks are a little off and we talked about having a really good start. Drawing a penalty, then converting on the power play.”

Copp on Saturday’s win

“We tried to stay as composed as possible. They had some pushes, especially the second half of the second period when we weren’t very good. We found ourselves in the second intermission and played a solid third period. We didn’t get enough pucks to the net, but we stayed in the battle and got one late. Good teams win games like that.”

Kane on van Riemsdyk’s goal

“3-2, no one really knows what’s going on with Larks. Obviously, that’s a big loss for our team. To score and make it 3-3 kind of settled everything down a bit.”