Senators stay red-hot, hold off Red Wings to move into East wild-card spot

DETROIT -- Carter Yakemchuk had a goal and an assist in his NHL debut, and Brady Tkachuk also had a goal and an assist for the Ottawa Senators, who held on for a 3-2 win against the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena on Tuesday.

Yakemchuk, a 20-year-old defenseman, was the No. 7 pick in the 2024 NHL Draft.

“This was a really special night,” said Yakemchuk, whose parents made the trip to Detroit from Alberta. “It was awesome to be a part of this win.”

Lars Eller also scored for the Senators (38-24-9), who have won four straight, including a 2-1 victory at the New York Rangers on Monday, and are 15-3-2 in 20 games since Jan. 25. Linus Ullmark made 32 saves.

Ottawa moved into the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. The Senators are one point ahead of the Red Wings and tied in points with the New York Islanders, who have played one more game and lost 4-3 to the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday.

“This was a gutsy, gutsy game,” Senators coach Travis Green said. “We came in after playing last night to face a rested team and found a way to win.”

Multiple injuries to Ottawa defensemen, including Thomas Chabot (upper body) and Lassi Thomson (undisclosed) on Monday, paved the way for Yakemchuk and Jorian Donovan, a fifth-round pick (No. 136) in the 2022 NHL Draft, to each make his NHL debut against Detroit.

“I’m proud of both of them,” Green said. “We got a big game from (Yakemchuk). He’s a special player, and I thought (Donovan) did what we needed him to do.”

Dylan Larkin scored in his return from a lower-body injury, and Dominik Shine also scored for the Red Wings (38-25-8), who have lost five of their past seven games (2-4-1). John Gibson made 18 saves.

“It was good to be back out there with the guys,” said Larkin, who played for the first time since March 6 after missing seven games. “But the room is mad, because this was a big game. We have 11 games left and we have to be better than this.”

The Red Wings appeared to take a 1-0 lead on Alex DeBrincat’s power-play goal at 15:35 of the first period, but the play was overturned after the Senators successfully challenged for offside.

Tkachuk then put the Senators ahead 1-0 with a power-play goal at 17:15. As Gibson got into position to stop Tim Stutzle’s shot, Tkachuk tipped it past his blocker. Yakemchuk picked up the secondary assist for the first point of his NHL career.

“This isn’t a normal first NHL game, it is more like a first game in the playoffs,” Tkachuk said. “Yakemchuk and (Donovan) were both amazing.”

Yakemchuk made it 2-0 at 9:28 of the second period with his first NHL goal, skating in from the blue line to beat Gibson with a wrist shot.

“I saw I had a lot of space, so I decided to walk down and shoot,” Yakemchuk said. “The coaches told me to just play my game when I got the puck.”

Eller extended it to 3-0 at 11:05 on a wrist shot from the right circle with Ridly Greig screening Gibson.

Shine cut it to 3-1 at 14:50, tipping Simon Edvinsson’s pass between Ullmark’s blocker and body.

Larkin scored on the power play to make it 3-2 at 4:13 of the third period. Ullmark deflected DeBrincat’s pass across the top of the crease, but the puck went right to Larkin for his 29th goal of the season.

James van Riemsdyk hit the post with 4:22 to play and the Red Wings on a power play.

“We were a little bit sluggish for whatever reason,” Red Wings coach Todd McLellan said. “We put pucks in the areas we wanted them, but then we weren’t winning the battles to give ourselves a chance.”

NOTES: Yakemchuk became the second Senators defenseman to record multiple points in his NHL debut, joining Maxime Lajoie, who also had a goal and an assist in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Oct. 4, 2018. … Tkachuk recorded his seventh 20-goal season with the Senators, surpassing Alexei Yashin (six) for the third-most in franchise history, behind Daniel Alfredsson (13) and Jason Spezza (eight). … DeBrincat had an assist to extend his point streak to seven games (two goals, nine assists). … Ottawa moved into a playoff spot for the first time since Dec. 3.