Berggren scores late, Red Wings edge Blue Jackets

COLUMBUS -- Jonatan Berggren scored the go-ahead goal with 36 seconds remaining in the third period for the Detroit Red Wings in a 5-4 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Thursday.

Tyler Motte poked a loose puck ahead to Berggren, who scored on a breakaway to give Detroit a 5-4 lead five seconds after exiting the penalty box following a Columbus power play.

Berggren was serving the Red Wings’ delay of game penalty for unsuccessfully challenging for goalie interference on the Blue Jackets’ goal by James van Riemsdyk at 17:19 that tied it 4-4.

“Ben (Chiarot) made a huge block and then it landed perfect on Motte’s stick. He saw me and I tried to score,” Berggren said. “When you’re sitting in the penalty box you kind of hope it comes like that. This time it was lucky.”

Alex DeBrincat had a goal and two assists, Patrick Kane and Dylan Larkin each had a goal and an assist, and Erik Gustafsson scored for the Red Wings (16-18-4), who have won three straight following a four-game skid. Cam Talbot made 21 saves.

“The finish is what we were looking for, not necessarily the road map we had to get there, but we said we'd find out a little bit about our team,” Detroit coach Todd McLellan said. “Found out that there's some resiliency in the group.”

Van Riemsdyk had two goals and an assist, Zach Werenski scored and had two assists to extend his home point streak to 14 games, and Sean Monahan scored for the Blue Jackets (16-17-6), who had won three of four. Elvis Merzlikins made 21 saves.

“There's a lot of stuff we could have done better to put ourselves in a position to not have it come down to the end like that,” Werenski said. “I think if we start better, get to our game better, it's probably a different story at the end. I think that's the main thing -- playing the full 60 minutes -- and I don't think we did that tonight.”

Van Riemsdyk gave Columbus a 1-0 lead at 2:42 of the first period on the power play, tipping a shot by Cole Sillinger.

Kane tied it 1-1 at 6:55, poking in the puck after Merzlikins couldn’t corral a shot from the slot by DeBrincat and the Blue Jackets were unable to clear the rebound. He extended his goal streak to three games.

Gustafsson put the Red Wings ahead 2-1 at 14:39 with a shot from the left point that went in off the post for his first goal of the season. He ended a 42-game goal drought back to March 11, 2024.

DeBrincat scored seven seconds into a power play at 17:09 to extend it to 3-1.

DeBrincat said there is a positive vibe since McLellan was named coach on Dec. 26.

“I think there's no quit,” DeBrincat said. “We give up that late goal, and our PK does a great job, and obviously [Berggren] scores after that.

“We're not getting down on the bench when we have a momentum swing. We just keep working to get that momentum back and it's been going well for us.”

Werenski cut it to 3-2 at 11:09 of the second period after Fantilli won the draw in the left face-off circle back to him before skating in and scoring from the high slot.

Monahan tied it 3-3 at 18:40, converting a backhanded pass from the right corner by van Riemsdyk.

Larkin gave the Red Wings a 4-3 lead with a power-play goal at 4:54 of the third period off a centering pass from DeBrincat.

Van Riemsdyk’s second goal then appeared to set the Blue Jackets up for overtime until Berggren scored in the final minute.

“I'd love to be sitting here with at least a point and have the opportunity,” Columbus coach Dean Evason said. “We made a mistake at the end. It's fine. We'll learn from it, and we'll go forward.”

NOTES: Kane recorded his 824th career assist and needs one to tie former Red Wings captain Alex Delvecchio (825) for 28th place on the NHL’s all-time list. ... Larkin has five points (two goals, three assists) in a four-game point streak. … DeBrincat has six points (three goals, three assists) in a three-game point streak.