Red Wings beat Blackhawks, put on good show for lively home crowd

Detroit — Maybe it didn't have the pure excitement of years ago when the Red Wings hosted Chicago and both teams were headed to the playoffs.

Those days are gone for a while.

But on a cold Friday night in March — with both teams looking toward a long offseason instead of the playoffs — the crowd at Little Caesars Arena had plenty to get excited about in a 2-1 Red Wings victory over the Blackhawks.

The Wings played one of their stronger all around games, Tyler Bertuzzi and Robby Fabbri (power play) had goals, while goaltender Jonathan Bernier continued his fine play with 32 saves.

During a season with few enjoyable evenings, this was definitely one for a lively crowd at LCA.

“We had a real good crowd, the fans got into it big-time,” Bertuzzi said. “Maybe it was the Original Six matchup, it brings a little bit more. But we played tonight and the fans were behind us.”

BOX SCORE: Red Wings 2, Blackhawks 1

Patrick Kane answered with Chicago's goal.

The Wings (16-48-5) ended a 6-game losing streak, with their first win since Feb. 18, while putting a severe dent in Chicago's playoff hopes.

“We were relentless tonight,” Red Wings forward Dylan Larkin said. “They didn’t have a whole lot and their big guys were getting frustrated. We were smart with the puck and created a lot and it was a good game for us.

“That’s the way we have to play.”

Bernier was, arguably, the Wings’ best player again, making a huge save on Chicago forward Alex DeBrincat (Farmington Hills) in the opening minute on a 2-on-1, setting the tone for the evening.

“That was a huge save, an elite, elite save,” Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. “What that did was allowed us to find our game. The first couple minutes we weren’t very good, but he made that save, and after that for 40 minutes, we were real good.”

Bernier pointed toward the special teams as a key for the victory — the Wings scored a power-play goal and killed all three Chicago power plays (including a third-period power play).

“It’s what you try to do every night,” Bernier said of giving his team a chance to win. “I thought it was the PK tonight, and we scored a big goal on the power play. That’s what made the difference.

“Obviousy you feel good and just try to keep going in one direction. But our PK and PP was real good.”

Bertuzzi and Fabbri scored second-period goals, giving the Wings a 2-0 lead.

Bertuzzi scored 20 seconds into the second period, ending a personal 14-game goal-scoring drought.

Larkin found Bertuzzi alone in the slot, and Bertuzzi lifted a one-timer for his team-leading 19th goal past goalie Corey Crawford (23 saves).

The Wings maintained the lead, with the help of Bernier’s goaltending, and saw Fabbri build upon it.

Fabbri one-timed a set-up from Gustav Lindstrom — the puck squirted to Lindstrom at the point from a battle in the corner — and Fabbri made it 2-0 with his 14th goal at 10:05.

Holding a two-goal lead, and playing one of their better defensive games, the Wings saw Chicago slice the lead in half late in the second period.

Jonathan Toews, from his knees, backhanded a pass to Brandon Saad in the slot. Saad fed Kane to the side of the net, where Kane fired into a yawning net, Kane’s 31st goal, at 18:55.

The Wings were visited by actors Jeff Daniels and Dave Coulier, both huge Wings fans, before the game. Both read off the starting lineup in the locker room.

“It was pretty cool to see them in here,” Bertuzzi said.

ted.kulfan@detroitnews.com

Twitter.com: @tkulfan