Trending: Filppula's 1,000th game dampened by Rangers

DETROIT -- It's been a confounding year for the Red Wings.
Even when they play well in creating several quality scoring opportunities, puck luck always seems to elude the Detroiters.

Saturday's 1-0 loss to the New York Rangers before a hyped up crowd at Little Caesars Arena is certainly a case in point.
The Wings had numerous opportunities to score, but once again they couldn't convert on their chances.
They either missed the wide open net or had the puck harmlessly bounce off their sticks, as Detroit lost for the second night in a row to the Blueshirts, which extended its winless streak to eight games.
After Friday's 4-2 loss to the Rangers in the Big Apple, the Wings vowed to be better during Saturday's rematch and they were.
The Red Wings played with bite and gave the Rangers all they could handle but in the end, they just couldn't find the back of the twine.
If there was an encouraging sign to come from the game, it was the return of netminder Jonathan Bernier.
Bernier (10-13-2), had missed the Wings' last seven games with a lower-body injury. He put together a solid effort, stopping 30 of the 31 shots he faced for a save percentage of .968.
Mika Zibanejad's power-play tally at 12:13 of the first period was the only goal Bernier allowed.
In the Rangers net, Wings nemesis Henrik Lundqvist (10-10-3) was spectacular.
Entering Saturday's game, Lundqvist's 1.95 career goals-against average and .938 career save percentage versus Detroit are his best numbers against any NHL opponent.
Though the Wings would argue they contributed mightily to Lundqvist's fifth career shutout against Detroit, King Henrik made several key saves out of the 33 shots the Wings fired his way.
Up next for the Red Wings (12-37-4) is a nationally televised game Monday night as they host the Philadelphia Flyers.
With the victory, the Rangers (25-21-4) swept the three-game season series with the Wings and they'll also return to action Monday when they entertain the Dallas Stars at Madison Square Garden.

1. Valtteri Filppula: Everything was aligning for Filppula to score in his 1,000th career game. Defenseman Madison Bowey had the puck on the give-and-go and he gave it back to Filppula, but Lundqvist made the save. The rebound was lying right there, waiting for Filppula to put it into the empty net but instead, he sent it through the crease. Although that and the loss were disappointing, Filppula did get to celebrate his 1,000th career game in front of his parents, who flew in from Finland, and other family and friends. Wings coach Jeff Blashill started Filppula on his milestone night and Filppula kicked it off by winning the opening face-off. During the first intermission, the Wings acknowledged the accomplishment and Filppula waved to the cheering fans in appreciation. Filppula, the 345th player in NHL history to reach 1,000 games, finished with 19 shifts for 16:29, had one shot, one giveaway, was 1-for-4 in face-offs and was even.

Quotable: "I feel good. Obviously part of the fact I've been able to stay healthy and play in the top league for a while, so I'm proud of that part. Hopefully have a little more left in me and get a few more games. It means a lot. I'm happy they were able to come over. Obviously it's tough to plan. You miss one game and the game moves on. But I'm really happy they were able to fly over." - Filppula
Quotable II: "It was right there. It's tough. It's happened to every player. You're hoping for one in his 1000th game, which is an amazing accomplishment. Someone that if anyone deserves that to go in, it's him. Just was the story of the night for us." - Dylan Larkin
Quotable III: "Every time you see that it's pretty special. It's hard to be in this league and it's even harder to stay in the league and get to 1,000 games. It's impressive." - Bernier

2. Jonathan Bernier: No matter how hard you work in practice, there is no way to replicate game conditions, especially for a goaltender. In Bernier's case, that was made even more complicated because of the All-Star break and bye getting in the way of his rehab from a lower-body injury. As a result, it was Bernier's first action since the Jan. 10 3-2 shootout win over the Ottawa Senators in which he made 29 saves in regulation. That was also the Wings' last victory. Although the Wings were better defensively than they were the night before against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden, Bernier had to make many quality saves. Among those was a save on Brendan Lemieux's shorthanded breakaway at 15:39 of the first, a stop of rookie Kaapo Kakko's power-play chance at 4:00 of the second and against the always dangerous Artemi Panarin at 4:40 of the third. Only Zibanejad's rebound on the power play at 12:13 of the first period eluded Bernier.
   Quotable: "I actually felt rusty in the first. It's just one of those games where you have to battle. You gotta get some games to get back in shape. There's nothing like a game for a goalie. It was demanding but I felt pretty good midway through the game. I felt better. I just think the timing with the bye week was kind of tough one, because I was pretty close to coming back for Minny but then you have the bye week and you're missing four or five days off the ice. I came back early to get some skating in but I really didn't have much of a chance to practice with the guys. I felt pretty good. Sal (goaltending coach Jeff Salajko) did a good job to get me ready." - Bernier

Quotable II: "It's great. I think he played really well before he got hurt and what a comeback. Definitely gave us a chance to win. Unfortunately, we couldn't get any goals. I think both goalies as of late have been playing really well and giving us a chance to win." - Filppula
Quotable III: "Both goalies were great. I thought they both made lots of saves. Bernier looked solid. In fairness to (Jimmy Howard), he played a couple games, the last game and the game in Minny, where I thought we weren't nearly as good defensively. I thought we were better defensively. They still created, enough of those were because of their elite skill. Not that some of them weren't mistakes but I thought we were way better defensively and Bernier was real solid." - Blashill
3. Missed opportunities: Filppula wasn't the only one who missed on some Grade A chances, although that one stood out because there was also a rebound opportunity. But Larkin also had a few chances, fanning on a rebound chance during a power play at 14:25 of the first period and getting stopped by Lundqvist on a breakaway at the end of the second. Lundqvist stopped Bowey on a wraparound attempt at the left side of the net midway through the second. Justin Abdelkader also had a good chance late in the game. In the end, Lundqvist made 33 saves for his 64th career shutout and fifth against the Wings.
Quotable: "I thought we played a pretty solid game. We had our chances we just didn't put them in the net. Pucks were bouncing everywhere. We just couldn't get one to land on our stick and bounce for us. Just the way it goes. Lundqvist is a great goalie. He stopped everything in front of him but we had some chances. I had a breakaway and had him beat. It just didn't go in. It's just the story of tonight." - Larkin
Quotable II: "It wasn't the first time I missed a good scoring chance. Probably going to happen in the future as well. So it happens. It's part of it. Obviously you hope you could score all those chances but unfortunately that's not the case." - Filppula
Quotable III: "I don't really focus on what they're doing in front of me. I focus on my own job. I've got enough to worry about. Obviously, you lose 1-0 and you think, 'Maybe I should have done this on the goal but I think you do that on every goal that you get scored on. It is what it is. But like I said, I thought we battled hard, we competed, we created some really good chances. Hank was good tonight." - Bernier
Quotable IV: "That was tough to watch at the end there, that they didn't go in. You want to get rewarded for it and we didn't. I think Abby had an open net late in the third. That's the reality of sports. We can't control that but we can control how approach is every day, we can control how we keep going at it and I thought our guys responded really well today after a disappointing performance last night." - Blashill