DETROIT (AP) — Alex DeBrincat had two goals and an assist in his home debut with Detroit, leading the Red Wings to a 6-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday.
DeBrincat was acquired in a July trade with Ottawa. The Michigan native also scored in the Red Wings’ season-opening loss at New Jersey on Thursday.
“You always want to have a good start,” he said. “It’s something that goes through your mind but at the beginning of the year, you just want to do the little things right and hopefully the puck bounces your way.”
DeBrincat scored 41 goals in two different seasons for Chicago. He had 27 goals and 39 assists in his only season with the Senators.
“It’s a little early to be thinking about that but I want to stay as consistent as possible,” DeBrincat said of returning to the 40-goal level. “That’s what all the great goal scorers do — stay consistent throughout the season.”
Daniel Sprong, Lucas Raymond, J.T. Compher and Moritz Seider also scored for Detroit, and Dylan Larkin added two assists. Ville Husso made 23 saves.
Raymond joined DeBrincat and Larkin on the Red Wings’ top line Saturday.
“We used our speed and skills and had a lot of looks,” Larkin said.
Steven Stamkos had two goals and an assist for the Lightning, who beat Nashville 5-3 on Tuesday in their season opener. Victor Hedman had a goal and two assists, while Brandon Hagel contributed a goal and an assist. Jonas Johansson stopped 36 shots.
“I thought we had some moments, and it was good that we were never out of the game, but our mistakes really cost us,” Hedman said. “Our puck management gave them too many easy chances, and we can only blame ourselves for that.”
Lightning coach John Cooper was exasperated by his team’s mistakes and poor defense.
“When you are giving the opponent everything we gave them, it is nearly impossible to win a hockey game,” he said.
The game was tied at 3 when Compher redirected Seider’s shot from the point 15:23 into the second period.
The Wings made it 5-3 at 4:44 of the third. Larkin created a 2-on-1 breakaway with his speed and puck handling and fed DeBrincat, who ripped a one-timer past Johansson.
Hedman cut Detroit’s lead to one midway through the period on a power-play goal from the point. But Seider scored an empty-netter in the final seconds to close it out.
“I loved (our) offense tonight,” Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said. “We just had six or seven really uncharacteristic plays that led to easy offense for them.”
The first period ended in a 2-all tie.
Detroit struck first. Sprong tapped in a DeBrincat shot that trickled behind Johansson.
After Johansson stopped a Jake Walman shot on a 2-0 breakaway, the Lightning scored moments later when Hedman set up Stamkos’ shot from the left side.
Hagel scored from the slot on a breakaway to give Tampa Bay the lead. DeBrincat answered less than two minutes later on a shot from the point that deflected off a defender’s stick and another defender’s skate.
ICE CHIPS
Red Wings forward Robby Fabbri missed the game due to an undisclosed injury. … Lightning forward Tyler Motte (hand) was placed on injured reserve. … Stamkos has 22 goals in 40 career games against Detroit. … Red Wings forward Christian Fischer played in his 400th career game. … Detroit is 54-32-9-2 all-time in home openers.
UP NEXT
Lightning: Play the second game of a back-to-back at Ottawa on Sunday night.
Red Wings: Travel to Columbus to face the Blue Jackets on Monday night.
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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL
