Blackhawks shocked by Red Wings

No team has been more miserable on the power play this season than the Detroit Red Wings.

Only one team has averaged fewer goals per game. And only three have a more putrid penalty kill.

So it was an easy victory for the red-hot Blackhawks on Saturday, right?

Wrong.

Detroit - which was an almost unfathomable 0-for-39 on the man advantage over its previous 14 games - broke that dry spell in the second period and received stellar goaltending from Jonathan Bernier en route to a shocking 5-3 win at the United Center.

The Hawks, who won their four previous meetings with Detroit, didn't even get a chance to test the Red Wings' PK until 8:13 remained in the third period.

But by then it was far too late as Detroit had built a 5-2 lead.

"It was a weird game," said coach Jeremy Colliton, whose team fell to 11-7-4. "I liked a lot of what we did. We've got to be sharper around our net. They got momentum. They converted (in) key moments."

Malcolm Subban, who had a .952 save percentage in his previous four starts, was off his game and let several bouncing pucks slide into the net. He finished with 27 saves.

"We had a lot of the play, so it's tough. He didn't get a lot early on," Colliton said. "Certainly not going to pin a bunch on him. He's been really good for us.

"Ultimately we'll talk as a team about trying to limit those (chances) around the net. ... They got a couple of clean looks."

One of those came just 16 seconds after Alex DeBrincat had tied the game at 1-1 at 13:53 of the second period. The Hawks got sloppy in the defensive zone and allowed Darren Helm to fire off a point-blank shot that Subban had no chance of stopping. Pius Suter's decision to engage in a puck battle below the goal line allowed Helm to sit in the slot all alone.

"It was tough to swallow that one," Colliton said.

It was no doubt also tough watching the Red Wings score just their third power play goal of the season, which came at 18:27 of the second when Christian Djoos' shot sailed past Subban.

"That last part of the second - it's not like they were all over us - but they got the power play ... and got the third goal," Colliton said. "That really did stop our momentum for a period of time."

Bernier was sensational in net, making 33 saves. His biggest stops came on back-to-back shots by David Kampf and Dominik Kubalik with the Hawks still down just 4-2.

Thirty-nine seconds later Frans Nielsen made it 5-2 to ice it for Detroit (7-13-3).

Mattias Janmark (7) and Dominik Kubalik (7) also scored for the Hawks.

"It wasn't our best effort. We've got lots to improve," Janmark said. "Should be pretty easy.

"We're not going to win every game here, so you've just got to handle some adversity and we've just got to come out and win (the rematch) tomorrow. It's gonna be a huge game for us."