Trending: Red Wings remain hot, scorch Penguins, 4-1

DETROIT -- It was such an incredible statistic that many Detroit Red Wings players and staff couldn't believe it was true, including record-setter Tyler Bertuzzi.
With his three-point night in Tuesday's 4-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins at Little Caesars Arena, Bertuzzi became the first player in Red Wings history to register four consecutive three-point games.

"I think I'm still a little shocked right now. I haven't comprehended it yet but it's something special," Bertuzzi said. "Like I've said before, I can't thank my teammates enough, my linemates for that run."
Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill was stunned.
"Blew me away, I couldn't believe it, to be dead honest with you. I couldn't believe it. You think of the players in this franchise, Geez-o-Pete, and the winning that's been done here and the number of goals that have been scored," Blashill said. "Different eras have had higher scoring games, but for that to be the first time in history, I absolutely couldn't believe it. What a good little run here by that line (Bertuzzi, Anthony Mantha and Dylan Larkin) and a good run by him."
Overall, it was a good night for the Red Wings as they received solid play from every position on the ice, especially from goalie Jimmy Howard and Detroit's patchwork defensive corps.
Bertuzzi scored the Wings' first two goals, his 20th (power play) and 21st of the season, and Anthony Mantha also notched a pair, one into the empty net off an unselfish feed from Bertuzzi.
Phil Kessel scored the lone Penguins goal with Sidney Crosby drawing the only assist.
With the win, the Wings extended their season-best win streak to six games and have been the victors in eight of their last nine games.
Before Tuesday's win, the last time the Red Wings had a six-game winning streak was Oct. 17-27, 2016; Detroit has not had a seven-game win streak since Jan 12-23, 2012.
Detroit improved to 32-38-10, while the Penguins, who could have clinched their 13th straight playoff berth with a win, fell to 43-26-11 on the season.
Up next the teams will conclude their back-to-back contests as the Penguins host the Red Wings Thursday night in the Steel City.

1. Tyler Bertuzzi: After being named the NHL's second star for the week ending on March 31, in which he picked up 10 points (3-7-10) in four games, Bertuzzi began this week where he left off, notching two goals and an assist against the Penguins. His 20th goal of the season came on the power play at 10:20 of the first period. The goal was set up by a tic-tac-toe passing play from Larkin to Andreas Athanasiou to Bertuzzi, who fired Athanasiou's perfect pass home. Penguins goalie Matt Murray made a spectacular glove save on the play, but after a lengthy review, it was determined Murray's glove was over the goal line, making it a good goal. Bertuzzi's second goal at 10:29 of the second was again set up by slick Wings passing. Larkin fed a pass to Darren Helm, who sent a backhand pass across to Bertuzzi, who beat Murray high stick-side. For a player known for a willingness to go to the front of the net to score greasy goals, Bertuzzi has shown the past few weeks he has a hard, accurate shot, making him a threat to score anywhere on the ice. In 71 games, Bertuzzi has 47 points (21-26) and his plus-13 is tops on the team.

Quotable:"He battles every night. He's a fun guy to play with. He's always got a smile on his face and works hard. I love playing with him, I love him as a teammate. He's someone that we're really going to need to take another step next year and I think he's prepared to do that." - Larkin
Quotable II:"I've said this consistently all year, Bert, to me, has done a very, very good job. He's really grown, just in front of our eyes right now, too. I think he's just continuing to get better and better. The consistency, to me, is the difference. The hardest thing in this league to be an elite player is consistency. You can't have off nights and outplay people, the league's just too good, the players you're playing against are equal or better than you on a consistent basis so you can't have off nights. He's done an excellent job of consistently playing really well." - Blashill

2.Jimmy Howard:With Jonathan Bernier on the mend with an upper-body injury, it is unclear if he'll be able to return to the Detroit net before the season ends on Saturday night against the Buffalo Sabres. So, in all likelihood, Howard will have to close out the campaign in the goal. On Tuesday, Howard played his 53rd game this season and as usual, his play gave the Red Wings a chance to win in a game the Penguins were trying to clinch a playoff berth. The veteran goalie stopped 38 of 39 shots the vaunted Pittsburgh offense fired his way for a .974 save percentage. The victory was his fifth straight, matching his longest win streak of the season -- Oct. 30-Nov. 13. This season, he's 23-20-5, with a 3.02 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage.
Quotable: "It's important to win games, especially with this young lineup. For us, personally, when you go out there and the puck's dropped most nights, competitiveness takes over and you want to win. That's what's important for us right now. Especially with how depleted we are but guys are stepping up in a big way, we're playing hard, we're playing smart and we're getting rewarded." - Howard
Quotable II: "Nik Kronwall has been outstanding. That's one thing that I haven't talked about that I think should be clear. He's been excellent. The number of plays he makes under pressure and he allows us to get out of our zone. Even on the empty-net goal, he doesn't panic, doesn't throw it up the wall, makes the play to exit. He's been excellent. I think Madison Bowey has really grown. He's been better and better and better on a consistent basis. And the rest of the D corps has just played real good. It's a bunch of guys, between (Dylan) McIlrath and (Joe) Hicketts and Cheli (Jake Chelios) and those guys, they haven't spent much time in the NHL but man, they know how to play and they're good players. We're giving up shots, we're giving up chances, I don't think we're giving up a tremendous amount of unstoppable chances, certainly the goal against on the two-on-one was a big mistake (by Hronek) and those are the ones we want to avoid. And that to me is almost unstoppable, it takes a miraculous save to make that save. The goalie hasn't had to make lots of those. And they've done an excellent job of stopping the ones that are in front of them. It's been a good combination of success." - Blashill

3.Anthony Mantha: After leading the Red Wings in goals last season with 24, Mantha was determined to pot more this year, even after a slow start and missing 15 games with an injured right hand. Against the Penguins, Mantha scored his 23rd and 24th goals of the season and could very well best his career high in goals in the final two games. The 6-foot-5, 225-pound power forward has been on a tear lately. After registering five points against Boston on Sunday, his two-point night extended his season-best point streak to six games, totaling 14 points (7-7-14). In 65 games, Mantha has 47 points (24-23-47), is minus-7 and has really developed a chemistry with linemates Larkin and Bertuzzi to give the Wings a definitive top line that can dominate games.
Quotable:"We're clicking, there's other guys clicking and we're winning and we're having a lot of fun. Before every game, the message has been this past stretch to build for next year and that for us, that's the exciting part. We're building chemistry against good teams at home, on the road, different situations, power play, five on five. It's been a lot of fun and we're doing it for a purpose and we're doing it for next year, too, so we're not in this position, heading home April 6. I think we all bring different dynamics to the game. I think we're all skating, we're all moving the puck. I think it also helps a lot that AA (Athanasiou) and Taco (Taro Hirose) have some chemistry and they're a dangerous line, too. We're not getting all the attention. Dubs (Athanasiou) is getting some attention and doing a great job at center. So it's a full 23-man roster. Our line right now, we're having a lot of fun clicking." - Larkin

Quotable II:"It's huge to have that. If you look around the league, Boston is a great example, this team (Pittsburgh) is a little different, they were missing (Evgeni) Malkin. Malkin, when he's playing great hockey, is one of the top five players in the world, but Boston is a great example of a team that can capitalize on their No. 1 line and then slot everybody else in. Now they've got an outstanding No. 2 center, so it takes more than just a line 100 percent, but it slots everybody in. It allows you to play head-to-head against people and when you have a match line which is your talented line, then you have opportunities to score way more. If you have a match line that's kind of a grinder line, you're not going to score tons on that shift, you're trying to keep even, but when you have a line like Larkin's line that can go out and play with the other team's best and not only shut them down, but out score them, it gives you a great advantage." - Blashill
Quotable III: "It's been fun playing hockey. Everyone's going through and playing simple. We're jelling together and making simple plays. Everything's been working well." - Bertuzzi