DETROIT _ The Islanders were off to a suspect start when Niklas Kronwall blindsided Anders Lee in the first period and temporarily knocked him out of the game.
Seeing their captain shaken up stirred the correct response from the Islanders, who became more engaged physically but without losing their discipline as they rallied from a two-goal deficit to beat the Red Wings, 3-2, and snap a two-game losing streak on Saturday night at Little Caesars Arena.
The Islanders (14-11-3) got 23 saves from Thomas Greiss, making his seventh start in eight games, goals from gritty fourth-liners Matt Martin and Casey Cizikas and a fight from top-six forward Josh Bailey in the gutty victory. They even got a power-play goal for the first time in 10 games.
Jonathan Bernier made 16 saves for the Red Wings (13-13-4) and Kronwall may be in danger of NHL supplementary discipline, though his hit on Lee went unpenalized.
Martin scored the winner at 3:24 of the third period as he went to the crease and took a feed from Cal Clutterbuck, who appeared to use his skate to direct the puck across the goalmouth. It was Clutterbuck's 100th career assist.
The Islanders were coming off Thursday's 6-2 loss at Pittsburgh in which Barry Trotz said his physical forwards were not physical enough, his top-six forwards did not generate enough offense, his defensemen weren't stout enough and Greiss didn't make enough saves.
"We have to be invested tonight," Trotz said before Saturday's game. "We'll have to play our style of hockey and do it well. When we do it well, we're very effective."
The Islanders were struggling, particularly in the defensive zone, before Kronwall's hit served as a wake-up call.
Kronwall lined up Lee with a shoulder to his face as Lee skated with his head down looking at the puck along the right boards in the neutral zone at 16:01 of the first period. Lee, bleeding heavily, went straight to the Islanders' room and did not return until 11:47 of the second period.
Cizikas brought the Islanders within 2-1 at 4:31 of the second period, winning an offensive zone faceoff and getting to the crease to take Ross Johnston's feed from behind the crease.
The Islanders then snapped an 0-for-20 power-play drought as Ryan Pulock connected on a slap shot from the right circle on a five-on-three advantage with Bailey's primary assist being the 400th point of his career.
The chippy play that commenced with Kronwall's hit on Lee continued in the second period as defenseman Johnny Boychuk fought Justin Abdelkader at 13:36 in the aftermath of Brock Nelson confronting Jonathan Ericsson after the defenseman upended Valtteri Filppula.
Bailey started the retaliation against Kronwall as he used his skates to knock him down after missing a chance at the Red Wings net and then fighting Dylan Larkin _ an unlikely bout _ at 18:39 of the first period as he skated up the ice.
Kronwall had given the Red Wings a 2-0 lead at 13:53 with a blue-line wrist shot as Justin Abdelkader screened Greiss. Abdelkader opened the scoring at 4:59, putting in Larkin's rebound after Larkin split defensemen Nick Leddy and Boychuk and skated to the crease.
Trotz successfully challenged Martin Frk's apparent goal 17 seconds later as video confirmed Frk was offside.
