Detroit City Wire

The Detroit Red Wings narrowly escaped with a 5-4 overtime win against the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday night at Little Caesars Arena. Despite losing a two-goal lead for the second consecutive day, Patrick Kane secured the victory with a breakaway goal in the final minute of overtime.

“Obviously, nice to get that one,” said Kane, who had two goals and an assist. “A little bit better feeling than last night to get the two points, but like [Moritz Seider] said, definitely got to learn from those situations.”

The Red Wings currently hold the Eastern Conference's first Wild-Card spot and have improved their record to 29-22-6 with 64 points. The Ducks' four-game winning streak ended, but they extended their point streak to five games.

“We’re happy with the win,” said Detroit head coach Todd McLellan. “We got into a situation similar to last night, where the last three or four minutes we had to play 6-on-5. It’s pretty evident we have to do a better job.”

Detroit started strong by taking a 3-0 lead within just over five minutes of play. Marco Kasper scored first, followed by Alex DeBrincat and Kane capitalizing on power-play opportunities.

Ryan Strome responded for Anaheim by scoring at 8:24 in the first period after Troy Terry’s shot rebounded off goalie Alex Lyon.

Seider noted improvement after the first period: “Honestly, I thought we sent a really good message after the first [period] going into the second."

Michael Rasmussen made it 4-1 early in the second period before Cutter Gauthier narrowed Anaheim's deficit. Rasmussen later left due to an injury from Trevor Zegras' hit.

“Obviously didn’t return and is still getting checked,” McLellan commented about Rasmussen’s status. “He seems in be in fairly good spirits.”

Anaheim tied late in regulation with goals from Olen Zellweger and Gauthier, sending the game into overtime.

“In the third [period], I think we played a solid game,” Seider remarked. "We just got to find a way to eliminate those empty-net chances."

Kane's decisive goal was set up by Kasper's stretch pass in overtime. It marked Kane’s 14th career NHL extra-session tally.

“Luckily, we got two points tonight,” Seider added. “But we’ll definitely learn, analyze and then get better.”

Looking ahead, Detroit will face Minnesota Wild next Tuesday night at Xcel Energy Center.

Coach McLellan addressed referee decisions postgame: “They can’t make stuff up... If they didn’t see what happened, they can’t just make it up.”

Regarding Andrew Copp's status: “Copp will be out…we’ll know more tomorrow."

Kane praised his teammates’ efforts leading up to his overtime goal: "Mo and Marco did a great job battling there and getting the puck up to me."

Reflecting on maintaining leads late in games, Kane said: "I think just continue playing... Sometimes that’s something we can look at too: bearing down on those opportunities."