Trending: Stars get victory in first visit to Little Caesars Arena

DETROIT -- The Dallas Stars made sure that coach Ken Hitchcock's 1,500th NHL game was a victory.
The Stars came into Little Caesars Arena for the first time Tuesday and left with a 4-2 win, giving them three straight victories over the Red Wings.

Stars goaltender Ben Bishop extended his personal winning streak against the Wings to seven games and improved to 13-4-0 lifetime.
The Wings fell to 18-19-7 overall and 10-8-6 at home while the Stars improved to 26-17-3 overall and 10-11-2 on the road.
Trevor Daley and Andreas Athanasiou scored for Detroit while Radek Faksa, Jason Spezza (two power-play goals) and Martin Hanzal scored for Dallas.
1. Tyler Bertuzzi: Sometimes you can't help but wonder what this season could have been for Bertuzzi if he didn't injure his wrist during training camp. Heading into Wings camp, Bertuzzi was projected to be on Detroit's fourth line because he added the elements of tenacity and grit. Since his call-up to the Wings in early December, his sandpaper style has solidified his spot on the team. In his last nine games, he has eight points with a goal and seven assists. In Tuesday's 4-2 loss to the Stars, Bertuzzi assisted on both Detroit goals, was plus-1 and led the Wings with four hits in 17:33 of ice time. It was Bertuzzi's second consecutive multi-point game and third in his last seven contests. He hit a streaking Athanasiou with a perfect pass in the second period, which led to Detroit's second goal as Athanasiou beat Bishop on a clean breakaway. Detroit officials always believed Bertuzzi's game would translate well to the NHL and so far, the 22-year-old has done nothing to disappoint the Wings' initial expectations.
Quotable I: "I think he was very good tonight, maybe our best forward. Double-A was really good, Larkin was good, too. That was our best line. The one thing with Bert is again, against a team that defends well, that protects the ice well, that makes it hard to get to their net, you need guys like him and that's why he's always been a good playoff performer. I think when a game's wide open, you don't notice him as much. But when the game's a hard grind, you notice him more and certainly he makes tons of little plays. He's just got a real good hockey smarts and poise with a real hard approach and that's, I think, a special combination and a combination that's transferable to successful hockey." - Wings coach Jeff Blashill
Quotable II: "I'm just getting more used to it every game. Playing with Larks (Larkin) and Double-A (Athanasiou) it's pretty easy on me. Double-A, he doesn't cheat but he's smart when he blows the zone, and if I can just get it off the glass, they're going to have a footrace." - Bertuzzi
2. Andreas Athanasiou: One of the things that makes Athanasiou such an exciting player is his ability to make plays at top speed. At 11:43 of the second, Bertuzzi patiently waited in the Detroit end before sending a long pass to Athanasiou streaking into the Dallas zone. Athanasiou faked Bishop to his left before putting the puck in stick-side for his 10th goal of the season. Athanasiou now has three career goals in four games against the Stars. Niklas Kronwall got the second assist, which helped him pass Red Kelly, breaking a tie for 12th in Detroit history in assists with 311. Athanasiou and Frans Nielsen had a 2-on-0 shorthanded chance in the second and Athanasiou passed to Nielsen but Nielsen hit the post and the Stars came back and scored right afterward. Athanasiou assisted on the first goal of the game, Trevor Daley's tally at 44 seconds of the first. Athanasiou had his second straight multi-point game and the fourth in his last six games. He has four goals and four assists in his last six games and five goals and six assists in his last 12.
Quotable: "I think it's just playing over the years. I think in development camp and playing the prospects tournament for so many years you kind of develop that chem and that comes back quick when you play with them." - Athanasiou
Quotable II: "I knew that they weren't pushing the pace, so I tried to corral the puck and kind of wait. I was going to hit the weak-side D, and then I saw Doubles gone, so I just shot it down. Even if I didn't get it to him, he was going to beat the icing out." - Bertuzzi
3. Luke Witkowski: It was not the ideal night for Witkowski, who took an elbowing penalty in the first period even though replays showed he actually didn't make contact with Hanzal and a roughing minor in addition to a fighting major in the second period after a bout with Stephen Johns. Dominic Turgeon was called for delay of game during the first penalty, giving the Stars a 5-on-3 for 1:06. Spezza scored with two seconds left in the 5-on-3 and then again on the second chance. The result was Witkowski only played a total of five shifts for 3:27 and had nine penalty minutes.
Quotable: "I haven't seen the first one. Quick play, he's on his knees, I think I let up on him. I don't think I got him with my elbow, but I can't say that I did or I didn't. the second call, he couldn't call the instigator because I didn't instigate it, I didn't touch him. So I don't know how he can call it roughing. You tell me." - Witkowski
Quotable II: "To me the roughing call is a made-up call. Either it's instigator or it's nothing. I don't know where he got the extra two from. To me, I think they both dropped the gloves at the same time. We've been in that situation before this year and it's just been two fives. So that's a tough one. Obviously the first one, I don't think he even hits him. But that happens." - Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg
Quotable III: "I'll just walk you through the roughing penalty in the second. Dom Turgeon is going down the wall, he gets a hit from Johns. It was a good hit, clean hit, hard hit. Luke Witkowski is forward, he's on the forecheck, so he's already on his way. We want our guys to pursue the puck hard. His job is to make sure he's physical on the forecheck and that he's skating hard. So he's skating, he's already on his way. He wasn't on the other side of the side, he's on his way to the forecheck. He kind of gets rubbed out a little bit by (Antoine) Roussel. That's what we call cut-offs. And then he skates in the corner and he's by Johns. Johns turns to him, Johns drops his gloves. They engage, Luke still has his gloves on and there's a roughing penalty. The explanation I got was he got a roughing penalty for forcing him to fight. I'll make some calls, so I understand the call better. I don't to this moment understand at all how that's a roughing penalty. If somebody knows that better than me. I've been around the game a long time. I'm not sure if Luke is expected to not defend himself there, when the other guy drops his gloves first. I guess maybe he shouldn't defend himself. I don't know. I'm sure I'll get an explanation on it." - Blashill