RECAP: Red Wings let two-goal lead slip in 6-4 loss to Ducks

ANAHEIM -- For the second straight game, the Detroit Red Wings had a two-goal lead in the second period. But unlike Wednesday’s contest against the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Red Wings couldn’t find a way to come out on top against the Anaheim Ducks and lost, 6-4, at Honda Center on Friday night.

Goalie Alex Lyon made 23 saves in his first start for Detroit (7-8-1; 15 points) since Oct. 30 after being sidelined due to a lower-body injury. Goaltender John Gibson stopped 21 shots for Anaheim (6-8-2; 14 points), which scored four third-period goals to complete its comeback.

“First half was quality again,” Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde said. “Very similar to where we were in Pittsburgh. And again, just a little sign of an immature team. At 3-1, we didn’t manage our game. Got loose, we turned some pucks over and that led to bad penalties. The whole momentum changed.”

Olen Zellweger opened the scoring just 72 seconds into the game, sending a shot from the point through traffic and over Lyon’s blocker to give the Ducks an early 1-0 lead.

Tying it up for the Red Wings on the power play, Marco Kasper scored his first career NHL goal when he blasted in a wrister from the high slot after getting a pass from J.T. Compher to make it 1-1 at 7:59 of the first period. Moritz Seider recorded the secondary helper.

Taken eighth overall in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft by Detroit, the 20-year-old Kasper became the third-youngest Austrian-born player at the time of their first career tally.

“It’s awesome to get your first goal,” Kasper said. “It would have been much better with a win. That’s why you try to score, to help the team win, but still a great feeling to get the first one.”

Jonatan Berggren pushed the Red Wings ahead 2-1 with 44 seconds left in the first period during a 5-on-3 power play. Netting his second goal in as many games, Berggren one-timed a backdoor feed from Vladimir Tarasenko at the bottom of the right face-off circle. Kasper picked up the secondary assist.

Extending the lead for Detroit early in the second period, Lucas Raymond got the puck from Alex DeBrincat on the rush before he beat Gibson with a shot to the short side to make it 3-1 at 1:05.

Anaheim made it a one-goal game at 17:42 of the second period when Trevor Zegras finished Zellweger’s centering pass to cut the deficit to 3-2.

Kasper said he could sense the Ducks started gaining momentum towards the end of the middle frame.

“I think we had some bad penalties, but also we got to get pucks deep,” Kasper said. “We can’t have those turnovers on our own blue line. We got to play a more mature game.”

After Troy Terry’s power-play goal tied it 3-3 at 3:54 of the third period, Cutter Gauthier scored his first career NHL goal to hand the Ducks their second lead of the night (4-3) at 11:09.

Just 42 seconds later, Ross Johnston redirected Jasen Harkins’ shot from the left face-off circle to make it 5-3.

Pulling the Red Wings back within a goal, DeBrincat lit the lamp on the power play to make it 5-4 at 16:16 of the third period. Assisted by Seider and Raymond, DeBrincat cleaned up a rebound in tight for his seventh goal of the season.

Ryan Strome scored an empty-net goal with 24 seconds left, setting the 6-4 final.

"We’re all not happy with the result," Larkin said. "We needed to win that hockey game, and we didn’t. We were in position to win to do it, and we didn’t come through with two points. The good news out of all of this is we get a chance tomorrow to bounce back."

NEXT UP: The Red Wings will play the second half of their back-to-back set when they visit the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday night.

POSTGAME QUOTES

Lalonde on Kasper’s first career NHL goal

“Marco’s been playing very well for us. I’m glad it produced some offense tonight, so good sign for him and the group going forward.”

Larkin on Friday’s game

“Tough loss. That’s two games in a row we had a two-goal lead. We just started turning the puck over and got away from how good those two games in a row were when we had good first periods. Just got away from that game, and this one stings a lot.”

Kasper on having a quick turnaround

“We got to play a solid 60 minutes. Our first period was really good. Just got to try to get out there and play solid, try to get a lead again and play a good road game tomorrow.”