Dylan Larkin had the go-ahead goal and Marco Kasper ended a long scoring drought as the host Detroit Red Wings defeated the San Jose Sharks, 4-2, on Friday night.
Kasper scored his first goal in 37 games and added an assist. Alex DeBrincat scored his team-high 25th goal and J.T. Compher fired in the other goal for the Red Wings. Lucas Raymond supplied three assists and James van Riemsdyk had two assists, while John Gibson made 20 saves.
Will Smith and Collin Graf scored for the Sharks. Smith had missed 13 consecutive games due to an upper-body injury. Macklin Celebrini, the league’s third-leading scorer with 72 points, added an assist.
Yaroslav Askarov made 21 saves for the Sharks, who had won seven of their last nine games
Detroit took advantage of the first power play of the game to take the lead. With Mario Ferraro in the penalty box for high sticking, Raymond fed the puck to DeBrincat, who ripped a one-timer from the left circle into the net. van Riemsdyk, who hit the post moments earlier, picked up the second assist.
Smith tied the game midway through the first period. Celebrini took a shot that tumbled over Gibson and slowly rolled toward the goal line. Smith tapped it in for his 13th goal. John Klingberg had the second assist.
A few minutes later, Smith had a breakaway but Gibson made a glove save.
Graf put the Sharks on top at 1:58 of the second period, tipping in a pass from Nick Leddy. Sam Dickinson collected the second assist.
Kasper fought through traffic to set up Compher in front at 6:55 of the period, tying the score at 2-all.
Larkin’s 24th goal gave Detroit a 3-2 advantage. He squeezed the puck between the post and Askarov at 4:41 of the third. Raymond and van Riemsdyk had the assists.
Kasper scored an empty-netter with 1:32 remaining to clinch the win.
