DeBrincat has 3 points, Red Wings hold off Flames

CALGARY -- Alex DeBrincat had two goals and an assist, and the Detroit Red Wings held on to defeat the Calgary Flames 4-3 at Scotiabank Saddledome on Wednesday.

“Definitely some stuff to clean up, but overall, we put ourselves in a good position to win that game,” DeBrincat said. “Obviously not ideal to give up three in the third, but that’s the way it goes. It’s not easy to win on the road, so we’re doing a good job right now and I hope to get another one tomorrow (at the Edmonton Oilers).”

Axel Sandin-Pellikka and Dylan Larkin also scored for the Red Wings (17-11-3), who have won three in a row and are 4-0-2 in their past six games. John Gibson made 34 saves.

Patrick Kane had two assists and is 11 points from breaking Mike Modano’s NHL record for points by a player born in the United States, with 1,364 points (497 goals, 867 assists) in 1,324 games for the Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers and Red Wings.

“We’re really happy that we got points,” Detroit coach Todd McLellan said. “Obviously, when you’re on the road and playing in these buildings, it’s not an easy thing, but I certainly wouldn’t classify that as our ‘A’ game, even when we were up 4-0. Some of our game management skills came into question again.”

Joel Farabee, Matt Coronato and MacKenzie Weegar scored for the Flames (12-16-4), who trailed 4-0 heading into the third period. Nazem Kadri had two assists, and Devin Cooley made 23 saves.

“I thought there was a lot of good from our side tonight,” Calgary coach Ryan Huska said. “We made two mistakes in the first period that they scored goals on, one off the rush and one poor D-zone coverage and they capitalized on both those chances.

"I liked the push at the end, but we gave them, of course, too many [goals].”

Farabee started the Flames comeback when he scored on a penalty shot at 8:02 of the third period to make it 4-1 after being held from behind by Sandin-Pellikka while the Flames were killing a penalty. Farabee beat Gibson with a shot under his glove for his first NHL penalty-shot goal.

“I think just getting that first one got us going a bit, got the crowd into it,” Farabee said. “We made a good push in the third, but it’s too hard in this league when you start down two goals.”

Coronato scored 65 seconds later at 9:07 to make it 4-2 when he one-timed a pass from Kadri over Gibson’s glove.

Weegar cut Detroit’s lead to 4-3 at 14:40 when his point shot through traffic beat Gibson.

“I know it was 4-0, but there was belief that we were coming back,” Weegar said. “We almost did it. That was a big penalty-shot goal and [then goals by] Matty and myself, I thought we had a good chance to tie it up.”

DeBrincat gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead at 1:02 of the first period when he one-timed a cross-ice backhand pass from Kane past Cooley.

“I’ve seen that one a couple times,” DeBrincat said of the pass he received from Kane. “When you’re playing with him you’ve always got to be ready. Him holding it on his backhand like that, I think he sees me over there, so I’m definitely ready to shoot that.”

Sandin-Pellika extended Detroit’s lead to 2-0 at 4:33 by one-timing a pass from DeBrincat past Cooley.

“That was a big goal early in the game,” McLellan said. “His confidence seems to be going up, which is a real good thing. (It’s) tough for a smallish, young defenseman to come into the League and learn on the fly, but we’ve got a ton of confidence in him and he seems to be getting better every night.”

DeBrincat made it 3-0 at 7:41 of the second period with a wrist shot from the slot after taking a pass from Andrew Copp, who forced a turnover by Calgary forward Adam Klapka along the boards.

Larkin increased Detroit’s lead to 4-0 at 9:09 when he outraced Flames forward Blake Coleman into the Calgary zone before lifting a shot over Cooley’s blocker.

“We’re not in the business of being mad about wins, but we have a higher standard than that, and we’re going to need to show it [Thursday] night [in Edmonton],” Copp said.

NOTES: Detroit defenseman Simon Edvinsson left the game after the second period with a lower-body injury. … Kane is three goals away from joining Modano (561), Keith Tkachuk (538), Jeremy Roenick (513) and Joe Mullen (502) as the fifth U.S.-born player in NHL history to score 500 goals. … The Red Wings have won seven consecutive games against the Flames dating to 2022-23, which is their longest active winning streak against a single opponent. … Detroit forward James van Riemsdyk’s goal streak ended at four games.