Detroit — The Christmas break just got even more enjoyable for the Red Wings.
Heading into a three-day break, captain Dylan Larkin scored the game-tying goal in the third period, then scored the game-winner at 34 seconds of overtime, his 20th goal, giving the Wings a 4-3 victory over the Dallas Stars.
Larkin tied the game 3-3 in the third period, on the power play, at 15 minutes, 57 seconds. James van Riemsdyk, who opened the Wings’ scoring in the first period, fed Larkin with a between-the-legs pass to Larkin in the slot.
Larkin then converted a pass from Moritz Seider (two assists) in overtime, sending a rowdy Little Caesars Arena into the holidays in a festive mood.
It was such a dramatic change from exactly a year ago, when the Wings were booed off the ice in a loss to the St. Louis Blues. Three days later, Derek Lalonde was replaced as head coach by Todd McLellan.
“Last year on this night we got booed off the ice all three periods,” Larkin said. “It was a negative place. We were down.”
A calendar year later, under McLellan, the Wings (22-13-3) have won three consecutive games and five of their last six games, while leading the Atlantic Division.
“We passed a test up to this point and we have lot more to prove the rest of the year,” Larkin said.
BOX SCORE: Red Wings 4, Stars 3 (OT)
McLellan is pleased with how the Wings are evolving and growing, but cautions there’s still a lot of season left and there’s more improvement that has to be made.
But earning six of a possible six points against Washington (two victories) and Dallas to close out the pre-holiday portion of the schedule is promising.
“We’re playing like a team,” McLellan said. “We’re making fewer mistakes. We’re resilient. You could see tonight, in the second period, we got caught a few times on the ice a little too long, but we bent but we didn’t break. In the past, we’d break a lot quicker than we’re doing right now.”
The third period went back and forth between the teams. Wyatt Johnston’s power-play goal at 11:18 gave Dallas a 3-2 lead. Johnston redirected a pass into the slot from Miro Heiskanen, Johnston’s 20th goal.
Emmitt Finnie tied the game 2-2 with a power-play goal. Finnie, playing net-front, batted in a rebound of Lucas Raymond’s shot for Finnie’s ninth goal, at 3 minutes, 2 seconds of the third period.
“I liked that about our team the whole year, the way we keep playing no matter what the score is,” van Riemsdyk said. “That’s a sign of a good team. You have to play the same way shift to shift, no matter what is going on around you. We’ve been doing that and we’ve been able to get some results.
“We have to keep going.”
Dallas erased a 1-0 Wings’ lead entering the second period.
Jamie Benn’s goal with 44 seconds left in the second period snapped a 1-1 tie. Benn and Matt Duchene wound up on a two-on-one rush after a Wings’ neutral zone turnover, and Benn one-timed a pass from Duchene through the slot, past goaltender John Gibson, Benn’s seventh goal.
Roope Hintz (power play) added the other Stars goal. Hintz scored his 12th goal, one-timing a set up from Mikko Rantanen at 10:47.
Gibson earned his seventh consecutive victory for the Wings, stopping 19 shots.
Van Riemsdyk scored the opening Wings goal, his ninth. Michael Rasmussen made a good play getting the puck in, then controlling it, and fed van Riemsdyk at the post, at 9:23 of the first period.
“We’re just finding that consistency shift to shift and sticking with the game plan, playing for each other, especially the last few games against some good teams,” van Riemsdyk said. “We did our job and it did well and those are big points for us.”
tkulfan@detroitnews.com
@tkulfan
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