#LGRW Final: Red Wings fall in series finale to Blackhawks, 6-2

CHICAGO -- Tyler Bertuzzi scored a pair of power-play goals, but the Detroit Red Wings lost their second straight game to the Chicago Blackhawks, 6-2, on Sunday afternoon at the United Center.

Filip Hronek picked up a pair of assists and captain Dylan Larkin also tallied a helper, giving him at least one point in four of the past five games. Detroit, which was swept in a two-game series for the first time this season, will head to Dallas and face the Stars in a series that starts on Tuesday night.
"This wasn't the hockey we played at home," said captain Dylan Larkin. "Tonight, we left our goaltender out to dry and lost battles. We have to turn it around before we go down to Dallas, or else it's going to snowball. They're a good team waiting for us down there and we need to figure it out fast."

Blackhawks rookie Pius Suter recorded a hat trick -- the first three goals of his NHL career -- including two in the opening period. Connor Murphy, Mattias Janmark and Philipp Kurashev also found the back of the net for the Blackhawks. Goalie Kevin Lankinen made 25 saves, securing the win in net for the second consecutive game.
Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said the Wings didn't play well enough defensively during the past two games to garner wins.
"Number one, we didn't do a good enough job of putting pucks in behind people and being on the same page that way," Blashill said. "Number two, I just thought we were -- tonight for sure, loose defensively.
"We're going to have to be a team that does it way better in terms of defending. We can't give up lots of chances; we're not necessarily going to expect to score easy. We've got to be a team that defends way better than we did tonight."
The Blackhawks took a 2-0 lead into the dressing room at the first intermission, but Bertuzzi quickly got the Red Wings on the board with a power-play goal just 41 seconds into the second period. Bertuzzi's second goal came at the 11:39 mark of the third period.

The Red Wings' power play finished the game 2-for-5 after scoring one power-play goal through the first five games of the season.
"We just weren't good defensively. We needed to be better on the power play, and I thought we did that," Bertuzzi said. "In five-on-five, we needed to bear down a bit more."
Givani Smith and Taro Hirose were called up from the taxi squad prior to Sunday's game and each made their season debuts. The Red Wings also announced that Riley Barber was added to the taxi squad from the Grand Rapids Griffins.
Game one of the Dallas series will begin at 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The Stars were the Western Conference representative in the 2020 Stanley Cup final in Edmonton, and had the start of this season delayed due to COVID-19 protocols.
As Larkin alluded to, and according to Bertuzzi, the Red Wings will need to mentally move past the pair of losses in Chicago as soon as possible.
"A short memory is a big key to this season," Bertuzzi said. "Forget about it and move on to the next series, and try and get better every night."