Trending: Sulak shows impressive skating in win over Blackhawks

DETROIT -- For the Detroit Red Wings, it's always a good feeling to beat their rival, the Chicago Blackhawks, even if it is the preseason.
Evgeny Svechnikov broke a 2-2 tie at 14:15 of the third period en route to a 4-2 victory at Little Caesars Arena Thursday night.

Thomas Vanek (power play), Andreas Athanasiou, Svechnikov and Gustav Nyquist (empty net) scored for Detroit.

Patrick Kane and Mackenzie Entwistle scored for Chicago.
Wings goaltender Jonathan Bernier played the first half, stopping 11-of-13 shots while Patrick Rybar stopped all 10 shots he faced in the second half.
Blackhawks goaltender Anton Forsberg made 13-of-14 saves in the first half and Kevin Lankinen stopped 11-of-13 shots in the second half.
The Red Wings improved to 2-0 in the preseason while the Blackhawks fell to 0-2.
1. Libor Sulak: As one of the young defensemen battling to make the Wings out of camp, Sulak had a good first night. Sulak picked up the second assist on Athanasiou's goal in the second period and on Svechnikov's goal in the third. When he was not assisting, Sulak was definitely jumping up into the play and trying to make things happen. Sulak had a team-high four shots in 19:48. He also had a hit, two giveaways, a takeaway and a blocked shot in finishing plus-1.
Quotable: "He's an excellent forward skater, he's obviously dynamic when he jumps up in the play. We'd actually like to work with him on using the forward skating to defend a little bit because he's an elite forward skater. I think there's certain things he's got o get better at but there is an element to his game he's excellent at and that's his ability to put the other team on their heels." -- Wings coach Jeff Blashill
Quotable II: "I like him a lot. He's really good, the away he skates, the way he battles, he's not afraid to take shots, he's not afraid to jump up in the play. I thought he was one of our best players." -- Vanek
2. Andreas Athanasiou: Athanasiou started the game centering Vanek and Filip Zadina. Later in the game, Darren Helm took Zadina's place on the line while Zadina skated with Frans Nielsen and Nyquist. At 10:50 of the second period, Nyquist found Athanasiou racing into the offensive zone and Athanasiou pulled out one of his breakaway moves, faking right and depositing the puck in the left side of the net, beating Lankinen shortly after Lankinen entered the game. Athanasiou played 17:36, had three shots, one giveaway, one blocked shot and was even. He also finished 6-for-14 in face-offs.

Quotable: "Double-A was dynamic tonight. I thought he did a good job of capitalizing on loose pucks, great pass by Nyquie on the first one but I thought he was dynamic tonight." -- Blashill
3. Gustav Nyquist: Last season, Blashill consistently praised Nyquist's efforts on a nightly basis. Blashill also mentioned him standing out early in camp. On the first power play of the game, Nyquist and Vanek hooked up for a quick goal on the first shot of the power play. Nyquist also got the assist on Athanasiou's goal. Finally, after the Blackhawks had pulled their goalie, Nyquist banked the puck in for an empty-net goal at 19:15 of the third, ensuring there would not be a second straight night of overtime. Nyquist finished with 18:04 in ice time, had three shots and tied Jonathan Ericsson for the team lead in plus-minus at plus-2.

Quotable: "I think Nyquie and I had a little chemistry from two years ago. It (his goal) wasn't even a set play or nothing. I think he kind of remembered from two years ago that this is something we can do. It was a perfect pass by him and I got a good deflection on it." -- Vanek