DET-MTL 01:23:25

DETROIT -- Playing in his 700th career NHL game, captain Dylan Larkin recorded a power-play goal and an assist to help the Detroit Red Wings end a three-game winless streak with a 4-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens at Little Caesars Arena on Thursday night.

“A huge win for us and memorable night for myself,” said Larkin, who registered his 12th multi-point game of the season and stretched his point streak to three consecutive contests. “I think it’s going to be memorable, the way we played, and hopefully we can build off that. Coming home after that [most recent four-game road] trip, and against a team we didn’t play well against before Christmas, to have a nice night like that is awesome for our team.”

Goalie Cam Talbot made 27 saves to earn his 12th win of the season for Detroit (22-21-5; 49 points), which logged a season-high 45 shots against Montreal (24-20-4; 52 points).

“He’s a true Red Wing,” head coach Todd McLellan added about Larkin. “Seven hundred games means a lot. Original Six team Detroit, so that’s really remarkable in my mind. And over and above all that, all the things he does for the team when he puts the equipment on, but also when he isn’t wearing the equipment. That’s likely why they’ve chosen him as the captain a while ago.”

Seven minutes into the first period, Jonatan Berggren scored Detroit’s first goal of the night and his eighth of the season. After Larkin outmuscled Lane Hutson along the boards, he sent a pass out to Berggren for a snap shot in the right face-off circle that made it 1-0.

The Red Wings doubled their lead to 2-0 with just four seconds to go in the first period when Alex DeBrincat buried a sneaky feed from Lucas Raymond, who fooled Canadiens netminder Sam Montembeault into thinking a shot was coming from the top of the left face-off circle.

The secondary assist on DeBrincat’s 20th goal of the campaign went to Moritz Seider. This is the fifth straight season and seventh time in his NHL career that DeBrincat has reached the 20-goal mark.

“Since Todd has come in, we’ve focused on our starts,” Larkin said. “We had a good start tonight, and he challenged us after the first to follow it up in the second. It’s been a roller coaster a little bit too much and I thought tonight was much more stable. We played much better for 60 minutes.”

Andrew Copp’s short-handed goal put the hosts ahead 3-0 at 4:25 of the second period. Simon Edvinsson blocked a shot, then the loose puck was quickly scooped up in the neutral zone by Copp and he raced in on a breakaway for his ninth goal of the campaign.

“The short-handed goal was a big one,” McLellan said. “Teams are probably coming in and saying we got to take advantage of their penalty kill because our number is not good. The game was tight enough. They had a chance to strike and maybe swing the momentum back, and [Copp] and that group did a real good job.”

Only 64 seconds later, Kirby Dach got Montreal on the board when he cleaned up a loose puck in front to make it 3-1.

But Larkin had something to say about it at 7:50 of the second period, when he jammed his own rebound past Montembeault on the man advantage to put Detroit up 4-1. Vladimir Tarasenko and Sieder picked up the helpers on Larkin’s team-leading 21st goal of the season.

Cutting their deficit in half, the Canadiens made it 4-2 on Kaiden Guhle’s shot through traffic at 11:06 of the second period.

Talbot kept the Red Wings’ two-goal lead intact at 5:05 of the third period by shutting down Cole Caufield’s breakaway attempt. Detroit’s penalty kill also answered the call after the club unsuccessfully challenged for no goaltender interference just past the halfway mark of the frame.

“I thought they had a plan going into the challenge, but they trusted us with the kill,” said Seider, who posted his eighth multi-point game of the season. “It’s obviously a great feeling, getting that feeling from your coach. We did the job and I obviously think that gave us a big boost.”

NEXT UP: The Red Wings will host the Tampa Bay Lightning at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday night.

Meijer Postgame Comments |MTL vs. DET | 01/23/25

POSTGAME QUOTES

McLellan on what he liked most about how Detroit got two points on Thursday

“I liked our start. I thought everybody got into the game. We were aggressive and looked fast. I challenged the group before the game because part of the pre-scout was the two games they had played against Montreal pre-Christmas. In that game, we looked slower and a little indecisive. I wanted them to give us a guideline on whether we made progress. I thought we were aggressive, played quicker and faster.”

Larkin on what he thought the biggest difference was on Thursday compared to how the Red Wings looked against Canadiens last month

“I think we skated and were the better-skating team. We got up the ice, forechecked and caused a lot of turnovers. We looked to shoot. We got 45 shots. I think that might be a season high for our group. We shot it, got it back and continued to play offense. Even in the third period, we had some sustained offense and grinded them down. Drew a penalty late, that was huge. Our whole team game was pretty dialed in tonight.”

Seider on the momentum gained from Copp’s short-handed goal

“I thought [Copp] played really well tonight. The whole line created a lot of chances, turned their D and played in the offensive zone. He’s been really dialed on the PK and obviously is a big part of our success right now and in the future.”