Talbot and Larkin lead Red Wings past Flames 3-1 for 5th straight win

CALGARY, Alberta — Dylan Larkin scored his 23rd goal, Cam Talbot made 33 saves against his former team and the Detroit Red Wings beat the Calgary Flames 3-1 on Saturday night for their fifth consecutive victory.

Simon Edvinsson and Andrew Copp also scored for Detroit, which moved within one point of the final Eastern Conference playoff spot. Todd McLellan improved to 13-4-1 since taking over as Red Wings coach on Dec. 26.

Nazem Kadri scored a power-play goal for the Flames, who are one point ahead of Vancouver for the second Western Conference wild card.

Talbot has won three straight decisions and nine of his last 10. He is 15-10-2 this season.

Starting for the 11th time in 13 games, rookie Dustin Wolf stopped 22 shots for Calgary but fell to 19-9-2.

Larkin and Edvinsson scored in the first period. Kadri cut it to 2-1 at 8:34 of the third before Copp sealed it with an empty-net goal in the final minute.

Takeaways

Red Wings: Dominik Shine, 31, assisted on Larkin's goal for his first NHL point in his third career game. The undrafted Detroit native had been playing with Grand Rapids (AHL) since 2016-17.

Flames: New forwards Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee made their Calgary debuts after being acquired Thursday from Philadelphia. Neither hit the scoresheet for the Flames, who rank 28th in the NHL with 135 goals.

Key moment

Last in the league on the penalty kill, Detroit gave up Kadri's power-play goal following the first penalty of the game. But when Kadri drew a second Red Wings penalty two minutes later, Detroit got the critical kill it needed to maintain a one-goal lead.

Key stat

After going 15 games without a goal, Larkin has 11 in his last 16 games. He's on pace to score 36, which would eclipse his career high of 33 last season.

Up next

The Red Wings play at Vancouver on Sunday. The Flames visit the Seattle Kraken on Sunday.

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl