Raymond, Red Wings stay hot with victory against Sharks

DETROIT -- Lucas Raymond had three assists, and Marco Kasper had a goal and an assist for the Detroit Red Wings in a 4-2 win against the San Jose Sharks at Little Caesars Arena on Friday.

“We started well, but they came back after us,” Raymond said. “That’s a good team with a lot of good players, but we played some very good hockey in the second and third periods and found a way to win.”

Kasper ended a 36-game goal drought. He came into the game with six points (three goals, three assists) in 47 games after finishing with 37 points (19 goals, 18 assists) in 77 games last season as a rookie.

“This was very important for Marco,” Detroit coach Todd McLellan said. “I know his game has been coming, maybe not on the score sheet, but his physicality, his tenacity, his skating -- he looks like a different player right now.”

Dylan Larkin broke a tie early in the third period, Alex DeBrincat and J.T. Compher also scored, and James van Riemsdyk had two assists for the Red Wings (29-16-4), who won for the fifth time in six games. John Gibson made 20 saves in winning his fifth straight start.

“We made some mistakes tonight, but we know if we do that, [Gibson] is going to be there,” McLellan said. “That plays a huge role in the team’s confidence.”

Will Smith scored in his return to the lineup after missing 13 games with an upper-body injury for the Sharks (24-20-3), who had won four of five and seven of nine. They were coming off a 3-2 victory at the Washington Capitals on Thursday.

“Whenever you are hurt, you worry about the time frame coming back,” Smith said. “You just have to let your body heal, and the staff here did a great job helping me.”

Collin Graf also scored, and Yaroslav Askarov made 21 saves.

“I thought our guys worked hard,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “It is just that our brains weren’t turned out. Our puck play was horrendous. [Askarov] made some big saves and gave us a chance to win the hockey game, but we didn’t take it.”

DeBrincat gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 6:18 of the first period, taking a cross-ice pass from Raymond and beating Askarov on the glove side with a one-timer from the left face-off circle. It was DeBrincat’s 25th goal of the season; he and Raymond each got his 50th point of the season on the play.

Smith tied it 1-1 at 9:54. Macklin Celebrini’s shot hit Gibson on the shoulder, and the puck bounced over the goalie and trickled toward the line. Smith was the first to react, lunging to put the puck in while sliding into the net.

“[Celebrini] made a great play coming into the zone and got the shot,” Smith said. “I saw it pop up in the air and I just rushed it.”

Smith nearly got a second goal later in the period, but Gibson stopped him on a breakaway at 12:59.

The Sharks took a 2-1 lead at 1:58 of the second period. Nick Leddy backhanded a pass toward the front of the crease, and Graf tipped it past Gibson.

Detroit pulled even at 2-2 when Compher put in Kasper’s pass on the rush at 6:55. Kasper intercepted John Klingberg’s pass in the neutral zone, then drove past the defenseman at the blue line before feeding Compher.

“I thought (Michael) Misa was coming up on the boards, so I was going to give him the puck,” Klingberg said. “I tried to pinch in and get it back, but I ended up on the outside and he beat me on the inside.”

Larkin put the Red Wings ahead 3-2 at 4:41 of the third, jamming the puck in at the left post as Askarov tried to cover it.

Gibson made 11 saves in the period, including a big stop on Celebrini’s slap shot from low in the right circle at 13:35, one second after a Sharks power play expired.

Kasper then scored into an empty net at 18:28 to make it a 4-2 final.

“It’s always fun to score one, especially after a long time,” Kasper said. “It was an empty-net goal, but they count the same, so I’ll take it.”

NOTES: DeBrincat reached 25 goals for an eighth season, tied with Kyle Connor for the third most by an active United States-born player, behind Patrick Kane (11) and Auston Matthews (nine). … Detroit has multiple 50-point scorers prior to its 50th game in a season for the first time since 2007-08 (Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk). It won the Stanley Cup that season. … Larkin’s goal was the 266th of his career, moving him past John Ogrodnick for 10th place in Red Wings history.