RECAP: Red Wings ‘feeling pretty good,’ season-high winning streak hits seven after 6-2 victory over Kraken

DETROIT -- Eleven different players found the scoresheet and seven of them had multi-point efforts for the Detroit Red Wings, who won their seventh consecutive game, matching the club's longest winning streak since Jan. 12-23, 2012, with a 6-2 victory over the Seattle Kraken at Little Caesars Arena on Sunday afternoon.

“You can’t just have Patrick Kane, Dylan Larkin and [Lucas Raymond] doing all the scoring,” said Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan. “It has to be balanced and tonight, we wanted to jump on a team that played yesterday.”

Goalie Cam Talbot, making his second start in a row for Detroit (20-18-4; 44 points), finished with 31 saves against Seattle (18-23-3; 39 points).

“It’s definitely a good thing to win hockey games,” said Larkin, who recorded a power-play goal and an assist for his 10th multi-point game of the season. “Todd has come in, and we’ve worked on a lot. I think it probably starts with practice -- his intensity and how we practice."

The Red Wings’ offense burst out of the gates in the first period, scoring four goals within the first 7:53 of play. In fact, it marked Detroit’s fastest four goals to begin a game since Dec. 4, 1987, when it did so in 7:22.

“We got on the forecheck, and we were skating to start,” Larkin said. “Had a good shot mentality. We knew that they were going to be hard to play against. They battle in their D-zone. We got pucks to the net, and they went in early. After we got one and two [goals], we kept our foot on the gas, and it was a great start for us tonight."

Getting the party started for the hosts, Marco Kasper scored his fourth goal of the season just 3:22 after puck drop. Lucas Raymond carried the puck behind the net before finding his captain, whose shot went in off Kasper’s stick for a 1-0 lead.

"Yesterday in practice, [Larkin and Raymond] told me to go to the net and good things are going to happen," Kasper said. "It worked out just fine. I'm trying to go and hunt when the puck is on the forecheck, just backcheck. Just doing the best I can and find those guys."

J.T. Compher doubled it to 2-0 just 11 seconds later, a redirection in the slot of Vladimir Tarasenko’s shot from above the right face-off circle. Albert Johansson, who scored his first career NHL goal on Friday, got the secondary assist on Compher’s sixth tally of the season.

A power-play goal from Alex DeBrincat, the team-leading 19th time he’s lit the lamp this season, at 6:16 of the first period extended Detroit’s lead to 3-0. The play started when Larkin won a draw in the offensive zone to get the puck behind him to Seider, who quickly fed Raymond. After gliding to the high slot, Raymond zipped it to DeBrincat in the left face-off circle for a one-timer that chased Kraken netminder Philipp Grubauer.

The Red Wings have now scored a power-play goal in eight consecutive games, the club’s longest such streak since the 2015-16 campaign.

“The special teams have been a big part of the wins since Christmas,” McLellan said. “The power play is clicking right now. It feels confident. It’s not the same look all the time; the pieces are interchangeable. It makes it hard to defend it.”

Like DeBrincat, Kane extended his point streak to seven consecutive contests with a goal on Sunday. The veteran forward, who was assisted by Erik Gustafsson and Andrew Copp, capped Detroit's first-period outburst with his 10th tally of the season to make it 4-0 at 7:53.

With Detroit on another power play early in the second period, Gustafsson fired a shot from the blue line that went off Josh Mahura and past goalie Joey Daccord (16 saves) to extend it to 5-0 just 4:17 into the frame. A secondary assist on Gustafsson’s second goal of the season was given to Kasper, who logged his second straight multi-point game.

"He's been outstanding, really," McLellan said about Gustafsson, who posted his first multi-point contest of the season. "The knock on him will always be, well, can he defend? He's doing an outstanding job of that. He's bought into taking care of that first and when you do that, it kind of opens up the other end as well."

Larkin scored the Red Wings’ sixth goal of the afternoon with a power-play conversion from in front, stretching it to 6-0 at 15:21 of the second period. Assisted by Kane and Moritz Seider, Larkin notched his 18th tally of the campaign and seventh in his last six games.

Spoiling Talbot’s shutout bid with two minutes to go in the second period, Oliver Bjorkstrand scored a power-play goal to get Seattle on the board, 6-1.

“I thought the penalty kill was good,” McLellan said. “We made one mistake on our coverage at the blue line and it’s in the net, so we got to still got to work on it. Clean that part of it up, but special teams was a huge part of the game.”

Matty Beniers also cut into Detroit’s lead when he one-timed a below-the-goal-line pass from Jaden Schwartz, bringing Seattle within 6-2 at 6:54 of the third period. That proved to be as close as the Kraken would get in the final frame against the Red Wings, who also improved to 12-10-2 on home ice this season.

“You win seven games in a row, you’re feeling pretty good,” McLellan said. “The spirit is really good right now. It’s high. We’re in a good spot, but all we did was crawl back into it. Now, we got a lot of work in front of us.”

NEXT UP: Detroit will try to stretch its season-high winning streak to eight straight games when the San Jose Sharks visit Little Caesars Arena on Tuesday night.

POSTGAME QUOTES

McLellan on the importance of getting the defensemen more involved offensively

"All the pieces go together. That shooting mentality gets them hungry. They get excited when they potentially can get the puck because they have the green light to do those things."

Larkin on what Kasper brings to Detroit’s top line

“Speed. He’s tenacious on the puck, so it’s been good. Our whole team -- everyone has was skating with the puck, making plays and hanging onto it down low. It’s good to see Marco contribute. A lot of guys tonight contributed on the scoresheet."

Kasper on knowing the Kraken were coming off short rest

"Of course, we know they played yesterday. But, I think it's a lot about us and how we prepared. We had a really good practice yesterday. Coming in with a six-game winning streak, so our confidence was high."