DETROIT _ The atmosphere at Little Caesars Arena had buzz, not least for all the children excited to see their faces on the Jumbotron.
Saturday afternoon's game between the Detroit Red Wings and New York Islanders had less to sell it. One bench featured a competitive team jockeying for playoff positioning.
The other bench had the Wings.
Depleted as they were, the Wings managed to eke out their second victory in 14 games, topping the Islanders, 2-1.
Their victory had much to do with how well Jonathan Bernier played, making 41 saves as the Islanders easily gained access to Detroit's zone.
"He was our best player," Dylan Larkin said. "Huge for him and huge for our team to win a game like this."
Bernier has had a tough season, earning just his second victory since Dec. 20.
"I feel like the last three or four starts I've been feeling pretty good," he said. "It was nice to finally get the result."
Andreas Athanasiou chipped in with both goals and Danny DeKeyser had two assists.
It was Larkin's first appearance after missing five games with a strained neck. Justin Abdelkader, who'd just scored his first goal in 41 games, is nursing a hairline fracture and may be out for the rest of the season.
Ryan Kuffner, a free-agent college signing, made his debut starting on a line with Frans Nielsen and Thomas Vanek. Kuffner also was out on a power-play unit with Nielsen, Tyler Bertuzzi, Niklas Kronwall and Michael Rasmussen. Kuffner, 22, just completed his fourth year of hockey at Princeton last weekend, finishing as the school's all-time leading goal scorer with 75 goals in 132 games. Kuffner didn't play much Saturday, but he's only been with the Wings through one practice. Blashill said Kuffner "played fine. It's one of those things where you never judge any player when they come into a situation like this. It's going to a be process. He's not going to play every game but he'll get enough games that he'll get a feel for what he needs to do to be successful and we'll get a little feel for what he is as a player."
The Wings grabbed a lead on a fluke play when Athanasiou's shot off a pass from DeKeyser redirected in off Ryan Pulock three minutes into the game. But the Wings largely were quiet after that, going about eight minutes without a shot on net before getting two on Thomas Greiss the last minute of the first period. Bernier had made 20 saves when Athanasiou scored his second goal, stuffing DeKeyser's shot at 9:57 of the second period. Shots after two periods had the Islanders up, 30-12.
Brian Lashoff wasn't originally in Saturday's lineup roster but that changed after an ailing back forced Trevor Daley from the lineup (he's considered day-to-day). That left the Wings with a defense corps of Lashoff with Madison Bowey, Niklas Kronwall with Luke Witkowski, and DeKeyser with Filip Hronek. The Wings already were without Mike Green (virus) and Jonathan Ericsson (lower body). The Wings are in an emergency situation on defense, so call-ups don't count against the four regular call-ups teams are limited to after the trade deadline. If the Wings need to call up someone else, they might take a look at Jake Chelios, son of former Wings defenseman and Hall of Famer Chris Chelios.
