DETROIT — Something finally went right for the Red Wings.
Mired in a six-game winless streak, the Wings rallied in the third period for a 4-3 victory over the struggling Chicago Blackhawks.
Lucas Raymond and Dominik Kubalik scored three minutes, eight seconds apart late in the third period, rallying the Wings and ending their lengthy losing streak.
Kubalik scored his 18th, against his former Chicago teammates, after Andrew Copp won a faceoff and got the puck to Gustav Lindstrom who found Kubalik alone near the hashmarks at 15:53.
Raymond deflected a point shot by Robert Hagg past Chicago goalie Alex Stalock at 12:35, Raymond's 16th goal, igniting the comeback.
Raymond's goal (his first since Jan. 21) came just after a good Wings penalty kill that gave the Wings much needed momentum after Chicago's Joey Anderson broke a 2-2 tie with Anderson's third goal.
Anderson gathered the puck after Jujhar Khaira's faceoff win and whistled a shot past goaltender Ville Husso at 6:10, after the Wings had controlled play most of the evening.
The Wings outshot Chicago 41-20.
Jake Walman and Dylan Larkin (power play) scored second-period goals, tying the score 2-2.
Taylor Raddysh had both Chicago goals in the first period, one on the power play.
Raddysh opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 15:51 of the first period. Lukas Reichel found Raddysh skating down the wing untouched and fed a pass that Raddysh deposited easily past Husso.
Raddysh scored his 16th at 17:58, making it 2-0 Chicago. Cole Guttman saw Raddysh open near the dot, and Raddysh snapped a shot through Husso, bringing on some dissatisfaction from Wings fans.
After what might have been a loud and uncomfortable intermission in the Wings locker room, they came out energized in the second period.
Walman cut the deficit to 2-1 with his seventh goal. Walman faked a defender to the ice, took a few strides, and snapped a shot past Stalock at 2:53.
The Wings tied the score on their second power-play attempt of the period.
Alex Chiasson, at the side of the net, fed Larkin with a between-the-legs pass that Larkin slammed into the net for his 24th goal at 18:34.
The Wings (29-26-9) moved to within six points of idle Pittsburgh in the chase for the second and last Eastern Conference wild-card spot. But there are also four teams between the Wings and Pittsburgh, making matters that much more difficult, with the Wings only having 18 games left.
The Wings played without Robby Fabbri after the first period. Fabbri, who has had three ACL surgeries in his career, appeared to twist his knee awkwardly on a battle along the boards and skated off the ice and straight down the tunnel to the locker room.
There was no further update on Fabbri's condition other than that he was unavailable for the remainder of the game.
The Wings came into the game with only nine goals scored in the last six games. The message in practice, along with late last week, was to get good positioning inside and make life difficult for opposing goalies.
"We have to simplify it and just get to the hard areas," Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde after Tuesday's practice. "A lot was centered around that (during practice Tuesday). Just getting some inside positioning. It’s a simple thing, (and) it probably goes unseen a lot, getting to the inside, drive the middle lane. All the sudden one or two more battles where you get to the inside, and your looks are a little bit different.
"That's going to be our message for the entire group going forward."
Still, the Wings don't have many forwards who play that sort of style. Most are skilled players who don't necessarily drive to the net.
Lalonde feels adding that element will only help players.
"A lot of players on our team, it's (getting inside) not natural for them," Lalonde said. "If they can get out of their comfort zone and learn how to create some of that hard offense, it's going to be good for them going forward as individuals, as a group."
It was also a positive to see the Wings score on the power play, after having only scored two goals in their last 26 attempts.
"That streak we had with all that winning (eight of 11 victories), it was offense by committee and the power play," Lalonde said. "It's got to look like that again."
