Larkin helps Red Wings defeat Canadiens to end 3-game skid

DETROIT – Dylan Larkin had a goal and an assist in his 700th NHL game to help the Detroit Red Wings to a 4-2 win against the Montreal Canadiens at Little Caesars Arena on Thursday.

Moritz Seider had two assists for Detroit (22-21-5), which had lost three straight and four of five (1-3-1). Cam Talbot made 27 saves.

“This is a huge win for us and a memorable night for myself,” Larkin said. “We were home after a (tough) trip and playing against a team we didn’t play well against before Christmas. To have a night like this is awesome.”

Kirby Dach had a goal and an assist for Montreal (24-20-4), which had won 13 of its past 17 since Dec. 14, including two wins against the Red Wings. Sam Montembeault made 41 saves.

“They did to us what we’ve done to a lot of other teams,” Dach said. “They made it hard to break out of our zone and we didn’t do enough on the forecheck to make life uncomfortable for them.”

Jonatan Berggren gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead at 13:00 of the first period, taking a pass from Larkin below the goal line and scoring with a snap shot from the right circle.

Alex DeBrincat made it 2-0 at 19:56, scoring his 20th goal of the season with a snap shot from a tight angle below the left circle off a feed from Lucas Raymond just after a power play expired.

“I would have liked more urgency and energy from the team at the start,” Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said. “We seemed to have more energy in the second period.”

Andrew Copp pushed it to 3-0 with Detroit’s second short-handed goal of the season at 4:25 of the second. He skated in alone and scored with a wrist shot from the slot after Simon Edvinsson blocked a shot.

“Teams are probably coming in thinking they can take advantage of our penalty kill because our numbers have not been good,” Red Wings coach Todd McLellan said. “They had a chance to strike and swing the momentum back to their side, but our group did a real good job.”

Dach’s wraparound goal pulled Montreal within 3-1 at 5:29, but Larkin restored the three-goal lead with a power-play goal at 7:50 when he took a pass below the right circle and jammed in the second attempt from in tight.

Kaiden Guhle beat Talbot with a point shot through traffic to make it 4-2 at 11:06, but the Canadiens failed to cut further into the deficit despite 13 shots in the third period.

“Teams are coming ready to play against us now,” Guhle said. “It’s not a secret that we’re hot – we’re playing really well – and I think we’ve got to be ready for teams not to take us lightly anymore.”

Christian Fischer appeared to make it 5-2 at 9:39 of the third, but the goal was waved off for goaltender interference. Detroit unsuccessfully challenged the call and was in turn given a delay-of-game penalty. Montreal had five shot attempts on the power play, but Talbot stopped the only two on target.

“It’s huge that the coach trusted us to get that kill,” Seider said. “It’s obviously a good feeling to know that, and we did the job. That gave us a big boost.”

NOTES: Montreal defenseman Lane Hutson had his nine-game point streak end (one goal, 12 assists). He could have set the NHL record for the longest assist streak by a rookie defenseman shared with Shayne Gostisbehere of the Carolina Hurricanes in 2015-16. … Montreal forward Brendan Gallagher played in his 800th NHL game, and forwards Christian Dvorak and Patrik Laine each played in their 600th. … Raymond’s assist on DeBrincat’s goal gave him 19 points (six goals, 13 assists) in his past 14 games.