Detroit Red Wings
Penguins Double Down on Red Wings With 2-1 Win
Detroit drops second straight game to Pittsburgh
The Detroit Red Wings have begun the New Year by doing something that they haven’t done since the end of November.
They’ve lost two games in a row.
Held to a season-low 12 shots, the Red Wings fell 2-1 to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday afternoon at Little Caesars Arena. Thursday in Pittsburgh, the Pens dropped the Red Wings 4-3 in overtime.
Yegor Chinakhov scores his first as a Penguin 🐧 pic.twitter.com/udK56A4yqK
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) January 3, 2026
Bryan Rust put the Penguins into the lead when he snapped a shot past Detroit goalie John Gibson early in the first period. Yegor Chinakhov made it 2-0 before the end of the opening frame, scoring on a breakaway. It was his first goal since coming to the Penguins in a trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Alex DeBrincat has goals in back-to-back games, and the @DetroitRedWings have cut the lead to one! 🚨
📺: ABC pic.twitter.com/QL3DzgcT0P
— NHL (@NHL) January 3, 2026
Alex DeBrincat finally got Detroit on the board late in the second period with an unassisted goal, his team-leading 22nd of the season. His goal came on just Detroit’s seventh shot of the game. It was DeBrincat’s second goal in as many games.
Rickard Rakell and Connor Dewar tallied empty-net goals in the third period to salt the game away for Pittsburgh.
Stuart Skinner made 11 saves in the Pittsburgh net. Gibson stopped 27 shots for the Red Wings.
Takeaways
Red Wings coach Todd McLellan dropped Emmitt Finnie from the top line during the game, slotting Marco Kasper in alongside Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond . . . Larkin was just 38% (six of 16) at the faceoff dot.
Red Wings Key Moment
Detroit got just one shot on goal in the game from a defenseman. It came off the stick of rookie Axel Sandin-Pellikka.
Red Wings Key Stat
The Penguins took a 1-0 lead 3:44 into the game. Pittsburgh has scored 26 goals this season during the first 10 minutes of the game. By contrast, Detroit has scored an NHL-low 25 first-period goals.
Up Next
The Red Wings hit the road. They travel to Ottawa to face the Senators on Monday. Puck drop for that contest is 7:30 pm ET. Detroit is 1-4-2 overall in the last seven games against the Senators and 1-5-1 in their past seven visits to Canada’s capital city.
