DeBrincat ties it late in third, Red Wings defeat Sharks in shootout

DETROIT -- Alex DeBrincat scored the tying goal with 1:33 left in the third period, and the Detroit Red Wings defeated the San Jose Sharks 4-3 in a shootout at Little Caesars Arena on Saturday.

Lucas Raymond scored the only goal in the shootout, after Detroit shooters had missed their first eight attempts of the season.

“That’s obviously a big goal, because it gets us a win and two points before we go on the road,” said Raymond, who hasn’t scored this season. “I’d love to see one go in, but I’ll keep shooting and something will go in.”

Emmitt Finnie had a goal and an assist for Detroit (3-3-2), which has a four-game point streak (2-0-2) and finished a stretch of playing seven of its first eight games at home. 

“It impresses me how quickly he has adjusted from playing the wing to playing center,” Red Wings coach Todd McLellan said. “He’s worked very hard on that.”

John Gibson made 31 saves.

“It was great to finish this with two wins,” Gibson said. “We have faced some adversity and been down in games, but we’re staying close and finding ways to win.”

Macklin Celebrini had a goal and two assists, and Ivar Stenberg had a goal and an assist for San Jose (4-3-1), which had been 4-0 in overtime and shootouts. Former Red Wings goalie Alex Nedeljkovic made 24 saves.

With Gibson on the bench for an extra attacker, DeBrincat put in his own rebound to make it 3-3 at 18:27.

It was the second straight game the Sharks had allowed a 6-on-5 tying goal.

“There’s definitely room for improvement when you give up a goal like that two games in a row,” Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said. “A lot of it is just getting the details right and understanding where we are in the game.”

Andrew Copp was called for holding Celebrini at 2:32 of overtime -- the third penalty he had drawn -- but the Red Wings killed the power play.

“We had chances, but there were a couple rolling pucks and a couple missed shots that we would really like back,” Celebrini said. “That was true throughout the game -- we didn’t finish chances.”

Moritz Seider, who played a game-high 29:46, had two blocks and a takeaway on the penalty kill.

“He’s a machine,” McLellan said. “He goes out there and sells out for his teammates, blocking shots and making plays, and then he does it again and again.”

San Jose nearly took the lead midway through the first period, but Gibson made a kick save while sprawled on the ice to rob Celebrini.

Justin Faulk gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead at 12:47, scoring a power-play goal with a point shot through traffic.

Dmitry Orlov tied the game 1-1 with a nearly identical goal at 17:59, beating Gibson from the point for a power-play goal.

Celebrini made it 2-1 at 4:55 of the second period. Michael Kesselring intercepted William Wallinder’s clearing attempt and passed to Will Smith, who got the puck to Celebrini in the high slot on a touch pass for his third goal.

San Jose took a 3-1 lead at 2:48 of the third period with their second power-play goal. A quick passing play between Celebrini and Alexander Wennberg ended with the puck on Stenberg’s stick, and he put a shot under the crossbar for his second NHL goal.

Finnie got Detroit within 3-2 at 5:00, finishing a rush by putting in Michael Brandsegg-Nygard’s pass at the far post after Orlov didn’t block the puck.

“We probably lost that game because of me,” Orlov said. “The puck was rolling, and I wasn’t sure if I should touch it or not -- it can go anywhere off my stick. I needed to be closer to him and not even give him a chance at the puck.”

NOTES: Celebrini had his 23rd three-point game and became the eighth player in NHL history with as many before age 21 after Wayne Gretzky (73), Mario Lemieux (31), Sidney Crosby (30), Jimmy Carson (29), Dale Hawerchuk (26), Pierre Larouche (24) and Rob Brown (23). …  It was Celebrini's 51st multipoint game in the NHL. Only three active players had as many at age 20 or younger: Crosby (91), Steven Stamkos (58) and Connor McDavid (55). … The game was the first NHL meeting for cousins Wennberg and Red Wings defenseman Anton Johansson. Wennberg said the reunion reminded him of placing basement hockey with Johansson as they grew up in Sweden.