Alex DeBrincat has come up big for the Red Wings twice in back-to-back games against West Coast opponents. He has scored the game-tying goal in the final 93 seconds of regulation in two consecutive games.
In Tuesday night’s matchup in Seattle, DeBrincat scored at the 19:43 mark on a great play. With the net empty, Moritz Seider drove the puck up the ice before passing to Dylan Larkin. Larkin took the puck through the neutral zone before chipping it wide toward the boards.
The Red Wings raced Seattle down the ice, and Lucas Raymond collected the puck. Raymond passed to an incoming Larkin, who found DeBrincat near the left post. DeBrincat drilled the puck past goaltender Philipp Grubauer, and guaranteed that the game would go into overtime.
DeBrincat Came Up Big Twice In As Many Games
Go back to Saturday when the Red Wings squared off with the San Jose Sharks. It was Detroit’s final home game before their current Western Conference road trip, so they needed to build momentum.
Much like Seattle on Tuesday, San Jose built a multi-goal lead, going up 3-1 following an Ivar Stenberg power-play goal at the 2:48 mark of the third period. Then Detroit stormed back, with a goal from Emmitt Finnie just over two minutes later.
Detroit and San Jose remained in a deadlock until the 18:27 mark when DeBrincat broke through and scored, with helpers from Viktor Arvidsson and Moritz Seider. That game also went into a shootout, which Detroit ended up winning thanks to Lucas Raymond.
Now that the Red Wings have done this multiple times in as many games — forging a comeback and DeBrincat finding a way to force overtime — opponents can’t put it in cruise control in the final frame. If they do, Alex DeBrincat and the Red Wings will make them pay.
Ideally, Detroit plays the way it has in the third period in the first two frames. But if they come out of the gate slow, they are often going to be a threat to make things interesting late.
Alex DeBrincat’s 300th Goal Came At The Right Time
DeBrincat’s game-tying goal against Seattle was also his 300th. That milestone was memorable enough if the stakes for this game hadn’t been so high. DeBrincat also found himself in rare company after scoring number 300.
“DeBrincat (705 games) became the fourth-fastest active American player to reach the 300-goal mark, behind Auston Matthews (482 games), Kyle Connor (648 games) and Jake Guentzel (670 games).”
Those are three superstars, two of whom are the faces of their respective franchises. It would be interesting to go back and see if their 300th goals were as memorable as DeBrincat’s.
While the Red Wings couldn’t finish the job against the Kraken, DeBrincat’s efforts ensured Detroit would escape with at least a point. Detroit’s third-period comeback that also included goals from Viktor Arvidsson and Lucas Raymond further builds momentum for this road trip.
Something they can use when they visit the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday. A team that has allowed 51 goals in 11 games.
Alex DeBrincat Is Developing A Remarkable Late-Game Habit