RECAP: Red Wings to enjoy ‘happy plane back’ after concluding four-game road trip with 4-3 overtime win against Kraken

SEATTLE – The Detroit Red Wings enter every road trip with a simple goal: earn at least as many points as games played. And while they dropped the first two of their four-game road swing, the Red Wings will return to Detroit feeling satisfied after winning their second straight game on Monday afternoon, 4-3, in overtime against the Seattle Kraken at Climate Pledge Arena.

“Every point matters, especially right now where we are,” said Ben Chiarot, who scored the game-winner at 1:07 of overtime. “Big two points for us. And four out of the eight we could have had, we’ll take it.”

Goalie Alex Lyon finished with 38 saves on 41 shots for Detroit (29-20-6; 64 points), while netminder Joey Daccord’s 28 saves helped Seattle (23-21-11; 57 points) pick up a point.

“Just happy to contribute to a win, as always,” Lyon said. “Super proud of the guys. It was just awesome, the emotion and the way we battled. That’s kind of been our story here, so just happy to have a happy plane back.”

The Kraken controlled play for most of the opening frame – finishing with a 15-6 shot advantage – but the Red Wings struck first at 13:30 when Patrick Kane set up Moritz Seider for a one-timer from the blue line that beat Daccord to make it 1-0.

In addition to Alex DeBrincat picking up a helper on Seider’s seventh goal of the season, Kane earned his 800th career NHL assist. Kane became just the third U.S.-born player in league history to reach the 800-assist milestone, joining Phil Housley (894) and Mike Modano (813).

“Producing points,” Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde said about Kane’s play this season. “Love the fact that he’s battling to stay within our team structure. Huge impact in our room.”

Seattle answered with 1:28 left in the first period on a power-play goal by Jared McCann, who buried a shot glove side from inside the left faceoff circle off a pass from Vince Dunn to make it 1-1.

Pulling Detroit back in front, Lucas Raymond capitalized on a rebound just outside the crease for his 16th goal of the season to make it 2-1 at 7:18 of the second period. J.T. Compher, who extended his point streak to four straight games, and Jeff Petry were awarded the assists.

McCann scored his second goal of the game at 10:51 of the second period, winning a battle in front of Detroit’s crease before he sent his own rebound through Lyon to even the score at 2-2.

Daniel Sprong, who played for the Kraken last season, finished a feed from Christian Fischer on a 2-on-1 rush at 15:58 of the second period to reclaim the lead (3-2) for the Red Wings.

“Great on the finish,” Lalonde said about Sprong’s 15th goal of the season. “He doesn’t need much for offense."

The back-and-forth battle extended into the third period, as Seattle’s Jaden Schwartz lit the lamp on a delayed penalty at 7:25 to knot things up at 3-3. Yanni Gourde made a diagonal pass to Schwartz in the right faceoff circle, who beat Lyon while he was down in the crease.

Detroit’s penalty kill was tested late when Seattle went on the power play with less than two minutes remaining in regulation, but the Red Wings kept the Kraken at bay to force overtime.

“Our special teams has catapulted us all year long and we needed (the penalty kill) in that type of situation,” Lalonde said. “It was huge, then obviously we scored right after.”

The assists on Chiarot’s game-clinching goal went to Detroit captain Dylan Larkin and Raymond. With a helper on the play, Raymond became the first Red Wings skater to reach the 30-assist mark this season.

“It was a nice job by Ray and Larks on the right side,” Chiarot said about his fourth career NHL overtime goal. “I just found a soft spot in the slot, Larks made a great little backhand pass to me and I just tried to shoot it.”

NEXT UP: Detroit will host the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday for the third and final Hockeytown Heritage Night at Little Caesars Arena this season.

QUOTABLE

Lalonde on Lyon’s afternoon

“Alex was great. It was a good reset. A good call by our goalie coach (Alex Westlund). This was a good problem to have. This was probably one of the tougher starting goalie decisions we had coming into this game, considering how well James (Reimer) played last time out.”

Chiarot on the Red Wings’ balanced scoring this season

“That’s kind of the way we’re built. We’ve got guys who can score on the fourth line and defensemen that can get up on the rush, so we’ve got offense from all over the lineup. I think that’s the key to our success. When we play good defensively, everyone is capable of contributing.”

Lyon on building on Monday’s overtime win and the road trip

“The way those first two games shook out and then to come back with two gutsy wins is awesome. We can’t get emotionally too high right now because we still have so much hockey left to go and so many critical points. We’re going to enjoy this for a hot second then move on and emotionally get ready for the next one.”

Chiarot on if he thought Detroit played a full 60 minutes in Seattle

“I honestly liked our game. I didn’t mind it aside from a couple odd mans, but that’s the way that team plays. They want to go, lean towards offense, get their defensemen up in the rush and create odd-man rushes. For the most part, I thought we did a decent job of weathering it.”