Detroit Red Wings sweep Alberta, beat Calgary Flames, 5-2, for longest win streak since ’21

The Detroit Red Wings continued their torrid run through Western Canada with another five-goal night to win their fifth straight game, taking down the Calgary Flames, 5-2, on Thursday at Scotiabank Saddledome.

Dominik Kubalik had two goals, Tyler Bertuzzi added a goal and two assists and Dylan Larkin kept his scorching month going with three assists as the Wings swept the Flames and the Edmonton Oilers (5-4 in a shootout) on back-to-back nights.

The five-game win streak is the Wings’ longest since taking five straight from Nov. 24-Dec. 4, 2021. The franchise hasn’t won six in a row since March 23-April 2, 2019.

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The streak’s continuation seemed unlikely when the Wings gave up a shorthanded goal to Elias Lindholm less than five minutes in. But Dominik Kubalik answered for the Wings with 61 seconds remaining in the first period; Bertuzzi dug the puck out of the corner and whipped it to Kubalik, who fired a wrister past Calgary goalie Dan Vladar from the right circle.

Robby Fabbri made it 2-1 Wings just 2:27 into the second period, taking a feed from Larkin and firing it past Vladar from the right circle again. David Perron started the play with a pass to Larkin in the slot; the assist was Perron’s 700^th point of his career.

The Flames tied it up with a Dillon Dube goal; he carried it into the zone and fired past Magnus Hellberg’s glove side for his 16^th score of the season. Hellberg, playing for the first time since Jan. 27, stopped 33 Calgary shots, his most since making 34 saves in at Buffalo on Dec. 29.

But Bertuzzi, Larkin and Kubalik connected on the winning goal a little over six minutes after Dube scored. Bertuzzi played the puck off the boards behind the net to Larkin, taking a stick to the face in the process. As Bertuzzi went down to the ice, Larkin, standing out front, slipped the puck back to Kubalik who connected on a one-timer from the right slot.

Bertuzzi got even more vengeance for his bloodied nose, with 77 seconds left in the second, tipping in a shot from Fabbri for a power play tally, his third goal of this injury-filled season.

Pius Suter, who scored the shootout winner on Wednesday night in Edmonton, finished off the scoring, taking advantage of a screen from Filip Zadina, who lost control of the puck, to fire a low wrister past Vladar.

Larkin’s four-game goal streak came to an end, but he extended his point streak to six games. The three assists give him 34 on the season to go with 21 goals in 53 games. Larkin has eight goals and 15 assists in 19 games since the start of 2023, including six goals and six assists in February.