DETROIT _ The Detroit Red Wings at least made their latest outing interesting, scoring twice in the third period.
Dylan Larkin had a goal and an assist before a lively Saturday night crowd at Little Caesars Arena, but the Pittsburgh Penguins used an empty net goal to prevail, 5-3, leaving the Wings 0-9-2 in their last 11 games.
It was a familiar sight much of the night _ the Wings were scored on early, were scored on again. They kept working and had something to celebrate when Robby Fabbri scored his seventh goal of the season. But as has been the trend, the Wings were not able to build on their momentum and instead their opponent grabbed it right back. It was 3-1 after two periods and 4-1 less than two minutes into the third period, with Dominik Kahun snuffing out any wild hopes the Wings had of rallying by sending the puck stick-side on Jonathan Bernier. Eric Comrie subbed in for Bernier midway through the third period.
FIlip Hronek scored with seven minutes to play in regulation, knocking in a nice feed from Darren Helm. Larkin scored with 3:04 to play, but the Wings took a too-many-men penalty with 1:46 to play, shortly after Larkin had made it 4-3.
Dead first
The Wings looked fragile at the start, like a team that was expecting to get scored on. Sure enough, the Penguins were able to generate shots on net and made it 1-0 at 5:37 when the puck went off Jake Guentzel's skate and slid beneath Jonathan Bernier's pads. Officials went through a quick review to establish there was no kicking motion. The Wings had no luck _ when Mike Green wound up for a slap shot, his stick broke and the puck sputtered. It was 2-0 before the first period ended, with third-pair defenseman Chad Ruhwedel firing a shot through traffic that Bernier couldn't see because he was screened. The most entertaining moment of the period came during a trivia contest on the Jumbotron, when the Grateful Dead were misspelled as Greatfull Dead and Greatful Dead.
Fabbri finds the net
Alex Biega drew a penalty at 5:14 of the second period. Dylan Larkin picked the puck up along the boards and strode to the middle and fired a puck that Matt Murray deflected. Fabbri connected on the rebound to edge the Wings within a goal at 6;02. It was Fabbri's sixth goal and 11th point since his first game with the Wings on Nov. 8. Fabbri also drew two penalties, the second with 4:36 to play in regulation. Fabbri assisted on Larkin's goal.
Watch the puck
Evgeni Malkin tallied his third point of the game when he scored at 10:42 of the second period. The Wings may have estimated the puck was about to leave the zone, but it bounced and Guentzel was able to get it to Malkin, who was at the bottom of the right circle. Mike Green and Dennis Cholowski were within feet of Malkin, but he easily caught the puck on his stick, whirled around and whipped it into Detroit's net.
