Dylan Larkin’s bar-down redirect at 4:41 of the third flipped the script, giving Detroit its fifth victory in six tries and exposing San Jose’s first regulation loss in 10 nights.
Dylan Larkin muscled home the game-winner, Marco Kasper buried a 37-game monkey with an empty-netter, and the surging Detroit Red Wings clipped San Jose’s streak at seven wins in nine, skating off with a 4-2 victory Friday at Little Caesars Arena.
How the Wings flipped the switch
Scoreless through 40 minutes? Hardly. Detroit came out flying, cashing a first-period power play when Lucas Raymond threaded a seam to Alex DeBrincat for his team-best 25th of the season.
San Jose answered twice—Will Smith pounced on a loose puck in his first game back from a 13-game upper-body absence, and Collin Graf tipped a Nick Leddy point shot early in the second.
Instead of folding, Detroit’s third line struck back five minutes later. Kasper slid a sneaky pass through a defender’s legs, and J.T. Compher slammed it home to knot the score at 2-2.
Larkin delivers the dagger
With the building buzzing, the captain seized the moment. Collecting a loose puck below the goal line, Larkin jammed it between Yaroslav Askarov’s pad and the right post at 4:41 of the third. The 3-2 lead held, and Kasper’s empty-netter with 1:32 left sealed it—his first point since Oct. 26.
- Larkin: 1 G, 1 A, 6 SOG, 22:18 TOI
- Raymond: 3 apples, 10-shot attempt night
- John Gibson: 20 saves, 10th win in last 14 starts
Detroit’s power play clicked at 25% over its last 10, climbing into the NHL’s top 10. Meanwhile, San Jose’s penalty kill—second-best in the league entering the night—was breached twice.
Sharks still trending up despite setback
San Jose entered 7-1-1 in its previous nine and got another point night from rookie phenom Macklin Celebrini, who now has 32 in his last 18 outings. The loss trims their wild-card cushion to four points, but with games in hand on St. Louis and Nashville, the runway remains long.
What’s next
Detroit stays home Sunday versus Ottawa, eyeing a sweep of a three-game homestand that could shove them within striking distance of third place in the Atlantic. San Jose boards a red-eye to Sunrise for a Monday meeting with the Florida Panthers, the first of a four-game road swing that could define their playoff push.
Keep locked on onlytrustedinfo.com for the fastest, most authoritative postgame analysis and fantasy fallout—because by the time the ice is scraped, we’re already charting tomorrow’s storylines.
