SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — San Francisco 49ers leading wide receiver Michael Crabtree has had surgery to repair a torn right Achilles tendon.

Crabtree was operated on Wednesday, one day after suffering the injury during an organized team activity.

Coach Jim Harbaugh would not speculate when Crabtree might return to play, but the injury is not necessarily season ending.

The 25-year-old Crabtree, the team’s 10th overall pick in the 2009 draft out of Texas Tech, had career highs last season with 85 receptions for 1,105 yards and nine touchdowns for the NFC champion Niners, who lost 34-31 to the Baltimore Ravens in the Super Bowl.

USA Today first reported that Crabtree was hurt during Tuesday’s OTA, citing an unidentified source.

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Online: http://pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL

CHICAGO (AP) — Star linebacker Brian Urlacher is calling it a career after 13 seasons with the Chicago Bears.

The eight-time Pro Bowl player announced his retirement on his Twitter account Wednesday. In a statement, he said, “After spending a lot of time this spring thinking about my NFL future, I have made a decision to retire.”

“Although I could continue playing, I’m not sure I would bring a level of performance or passion that’s up to my standards,” he said. “When considering this, along with the fact that I could retire after a 13-year career wearing only one jersey for such a storied franchise, my decision became pretty clear.”

Urlacher was the face of the Bears‘ franchise and leaves as one of the game’s great linebackers. In March, he and the Bears were unable to reach a contract agreement and he became a free agent.

He started 180 games from 2000 through 2012, and recorded a team-record 1,779 tackles. He has 41½ sacks, 22 interceptions, 16 fumble recoveries and 11 forced fumbles. He was the AP’s defensive player of the year in 2005 and helped the 2006 team to the Super Bowl.

Last year, he was slowed by a knee problem and then missed the final four games with a hamstring injury.

He had posted pictures on Twitter indicating he was working his way back into shape before the split with the Bears, but when they announced he would not be back, it was hardly a surprise.

Urlacher told the team’s flagship radio station at the time that he was not shocked and that the offer he received was “more like an ultimatum” in which they were telling him, “Sign this contract or we are going to move on.”

The split with Urlacher was one of many moves in a busy offseason for the Bears.

They fired coach Lovie Smith after a second straight late collapse left them out of the playoffs for the fifth time in six years even though they did finish with 10 wins.

They replaced him with the offensive-minded Marc Trestman, hoping he could get the most out of quarterback Jay Cutler, and revamped their offensive line.

On defense, the only starting linebacker returning is Lance Briggs. Veteran free agent acquisition D.J. Williams and second-round draft pick Jon Bostic are expected to compete for the middle linebacker job with Urlacher gone.

A safety with lightning speed, the 6-foot-4 Urlacher initially lined up at strong side linebacker for the Bears but lost the job to Roosevelt Colvin. He made the switch to middle linebacker during his first season when Barry Minter was injured and went on to become the NFL’s defensive rookie of the year, the start of a long run that saw him anchor a defense that consistently ranked among the league’s best.

But he clearly wasn’t his old explosive self last year. The speed and quickness that allowed him to wreak havoc for years simply wasn’t there.

Urlacher sprained his medial collateral ligament and partially sprained the posterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during the 2011 regular-season finale against Minnesota and hasn’t been the same since then.

He barely participated in training camp, had an arthroscopic procedure in mid-August to relieve the swelling, and spent most of the season trying to regain his old form.

Then, he came up lame in coverage on the second-to-last snap of the Bears’ overtime loss to Seattle in early December, an injury that ended his season and, ultimately, his career.

VIRGINIA WATER, England (AP) — Tiger Woods says the “fried chicken” comment from Sergio Garcia was hurtful and inappropriate. Two weeks after they verbally sparred at The Players Championship, Woods say it’s time to move on.

Garcia was at a European Tour awards dinner Tuesday night when he was jokingly asked if he would have Woods over for dinner during the U.S. Open. The Spaniard replied, “We’ll have him round every night. We will serve fried chicken.”

Woods took to Twitter on Wednesday and said the comment wasn’t silly, rather it was wrong and hurtful. He says he’s confident there is “real regret” the comment as made.

The world’s No. 1 player also said their flap is two weeks old and that “it’s long past time to move on and talk about golf.”

BOSTON (AP) — Build a new stadium, host the Super Bowl to show it off.

The NFL rewarded the San Francisco Bay Area on Tuesday with hosting rights for the 2016 championship game, slotting the 50th Super Bowl in the 49ers’ high-tech Santa Clara stadium scheduled to open next year.

The league also voted at its spring meetings to give the 2017 game to Houston, which last hosted the big game in 2004.

“After losing a Super Bowl, it feels really good to win a Super Bowl,” said 49ers CEO Jed York, whose team lost to Baltimore in the NFL title game in February. “We are so excited to be able to put on the ‘Golden Super Bowl’ in the Golden State.”

The back-to-back, first-ballot votes also sent a message to South Florida that it needs to settle its squabble over renovations at the Miami Dolphins’ stadium before it will get a chance to host its 11th Super Bowl.

“I can tell you that I think the stadium is a very import part of any of these proposals. The condition of the stadium is a factor,” commissioner Roger Goodell said. “I think it’s the stadium, at the end of the day. Their proposal was really quite exciting. I think owners would like to be in Miami. But it’s competitive right now.”

The 49ers are preparing to begin play in 2014 in what they are billing as the most technologically advanced stadium in the world — the first cashless, ticketless venue in NFL championship history, with WiFi capability for 75,000 people. The 2016 Super Bowl will be the first in northern California since the 1985 game at Stanford Stadium.

When Goodell announced the 2016 decision, members of the San Francisco bid committee let out a roar of approval, then toasted each other with champagne. Asked what he believed swayed the owners to vote for San Francisco, York added: “It’s the willpower of an entire area that gave an overwhelming push for us.”

It was the first time in a decade that a Super Bowl was awarded on the first ballot. York said 25 percent of the proceeds from the game will be donated to fight poverty in the Bay Area.

“The Bay Area has been waiting for a (title) game since 1985. We have a stadium now,” said Daniel Lurie, a leader of the San Francisco bid. “We are just thrilled and couldn’t be happier about this.”

Houston staged the 2004 Super Bowl, which is perhaps best known for Janet Jackson’s halftime “wardrobe malfunction.” That was just two years after Reliant Stadium opened.

“I think a lot of them just felt like, ‘Hey, it’s Houston’s time,’” Texans owner Robert McNair said. “They knew we could do a good job. From 2004 to ’17, that’s 13 years. So I agree, I think it’s Houston’s time.”

Miami has hosted 10 of them — including the Jets’ upset of the Colts in 1969 — and is tied with New Orleans for the most. But South Florida got rejected twice after the Florida Legislature did not support financing to renovate Sun Life Stadium — a likely backlash over the Marlins’ new baseball stadium.

Multibillionaire Dolphins owner Stephen Ross contends $ 350 million in stadium improvements are badly needed, but he doesn’t want to pay for them by himself. Nor does he want a scaled-down renovation of the 26-year-old facility.

“I suspect there’s a couple of state reps down in Miami-Dade County where I live who are going to look at this and realize this was a huge mistake,” South Florida bid committee chairman Rodney Barreto said. “We had the better bid. I could just look at the body language from the NFL staff. It’s a shame. We may not see another Super Bowl for another 10 years.”

Ross said South Florida “won’t stop trying” to get one.

Next Feb. 2, the game goes outdoors in a cold-weather site for the first time, at MetLife Stadium in the New Jersey Meadowlands. If that gamble pays off for the NFL, look for other cities in similar climates — Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Chicago, Denver — to bid for future Super Bowls.

The 2015 game will be played in the Phoenix area.

Earlier Tuesday, owners approved a $ 200 million loan for stadium construction in Atlanta. The multipurpose stadium could cost as much as $ 1 billion, with team owner Arthur Blank committed to funding most of it. Blank called the decision by the team owners an “important milestone” in moving the project forward. The owners also approved financing for renovations of stadiums in Charlotte and Philadelphia.

Speaking with reporters after the votes, Goodell also said:

— The draft will be held between May 8 and May 17 next year because the venue, Radio City Music Hall, is hosting an Easter show in April. He expects the draft will remain in May, with other adjustments to the NFL’s calendar, including the dates for the combine and the opening of free agency, to be discussed with the players’ union.

— A third international game in upcoming seasons could be added now that both games for 2013 in London have sold out.

— The Pro Bowl could be moved from Hawaii back to mainland cities after the 2014 game, but will still be held on the Sunday one week before the Super Bowl.

— Expanding the playoffs, and cutting two games off the preseason, still are being discussed. A reduced preseason could happen with either the current 16-game regular season or with an 18-game schedule.

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AP Pro Football Writer Barry Wilner contributed to this report.

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Tony Parker had 15 points and a career playoff-high 18 assists, Tim Duncan scored San Antonio‘s first six points of overtime and the Spurs bounced back after squandering a 13-point lead in the fourth quarter to beat the Memphis Grizzlies 93-89 on Tuesday night.

The Spurs took a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference finals with Game 3 on Saturday in Memphis.

Duncan opened the extra period with a layup, then made a tiebreaking putback on Parker’s missed jumper before making a runner that bounced high of the back iron and rattled in for a 91-87 lead with 1:08 to play.

The Grizzlies had a chance to tie after Jerryd Bayless hit a jumper and Parker missed one of two free throws with 14.6 seconds left, but Bayless’ 3-pointer from the left wing was off-target.

Bayless and Mike Conley each had 18 points to lead Memphis.

Duncan had 17 points and nine rebounds, missing most of the second half with foul trouble before coming up with the key baskets in overtime.

Memphis stormed back from a 13-point deficit with a 15-2 run over the final 8 minutes of regulation to tie it at 85 on Conley’s runner in the lane with 18.2 seconds to play. The Grizzlies got the chance to pull even after Manu Ginobili was called for a flagrant foul for pulling down Tony Allen by his left arm on a fast-break layup try.

Allen hit both free throws and Memphis got possession, setting up Conley’s tying basket at the end of a string of seven straight Grizzlies points.

But Memphis, which trailed by as much as 18 in the second half, could never pull ahead.

Up until the final stretch, Parker had been in control for 2½ quarters.

Parker kept San Antonio humming along after Duncan went to the bench with four fouls, the last three picked up within a span of 30 seconds, early in the third quarter. Parker provided the assist on the Spurs’ first seven baskets of the second half, an then scored the next two on mid-range jumpers before getting pulled for a rest with a 72-54 lead.

The Grizzlies mounted a 16-6 comeback while Parker was on the bench, getting as close as 78-70 after Zach Randolph scored inside following back-to-back Bayless jumpers.

Parker checked back in and soon had the lead growing again, ducking under Darrell Arthur to hit a floater and then knocking down a 3-pointer from the right wing to make it 83-70 with 8:14 to play. But then Parker finally went cold, missing five straight shots down the stretch as the Grizzlies rallied back.

He had 14 assists in the second and third quarters and went past his career-high for the regular season of 17 during overtime.

After Game 1, Memphis’ guards outlined a game plan that involved picking up their defense earlier on Parker to keep him from getting into the lane and putting the Grizzlies into the scramble mode that allowed San Antonio to hit a franchise playoff record 14 3-pointers in the opener.

It wasn’t until late that any of their plans started working. And then, Duncan — who missed a potential winning jumper from the left wing at the end of regulation — took over.

The Spurs put all five starters in double figures, getting 14 points from Tiago Splitter, 12 from Kawhi Leonard and 11 from Danny Green.

Randolph had 15 points and 18 rebounds after a two-point performance in Game 1, his lowest-scoring effort all season. Marc Gasol had 12 points and 14 rebounds.

Coach Lionel Hollins talked before the game about wanting the Grizzlies — getting increased attention in their first Western Conference finals appearance — to avoid being like a boy in junior high school who suddenly decides he needs to change once he gets noticed by a pretty girl.

“We’re who we are and we have to stay who we are, and we have to understand that no matter who’s coming and talking to us, we have to be true to our identity,” Hollins said, “and we can’t go changing and shaving and taking a bath when we haven’t taken one all along.”

Memphis, with the league’s best defense, looked like itself again early on while recovering from a 7-0 hole to turn it into a 15-13 slugfest after the first quarter. But after the Grizzlies went ahead for the first time, San Antonio surged back ahead with seven straight points — including Matt Bonner’s two-handed block against Conley and then a jumper by the red-headed sharp-shooter.

The Spurs then asserted control with back-to-back 3-pointers from Danny Green and Kawhi Leonard to go up 46-30 before Bayless broke a 4½-minute scoreless stretch by the Grizzlies with a free throw with a half-second left in the first half.

Notes: There was a moment of silence before the game recognizing the deadly tornado that hit Moore, Okla., on Monday. … The Grizzlies missed five shots on their next-to-last possession of the first half. Tony Allen’s baseline drive was snuffed out by a Leonard block and he also missed the putback before Randolph missed two putback tries — one of them blocked by Duncan. Tony Wroten then missed the final follow shot. … Parker’s previous career best in the playoffs was 14 assists against Utah on May 22, 2007. Johnny Moore holds the franchise postseason record with 20 against Denver in 1983.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Vinny Del Negro is out as coach of the Los Angeles Clippers after their first-round playoff exit.

The team said Tuesday he won’t be offered a new contract when his current one expires at the end of June.

Del Negro had a 128-102 regular-season record in three years with the team. The Clippers made the playoffs the last two seasons, including last year when they advanced to the second round for only the second time since the franchise moved to Los Angeles in 1984.

This season, the Clippers won a franchise-record 56 games, had a 17-game winning streak and won the club’s first Pacific Division title before their early playoff exit. They led Memphis 2-0 before losing in six games.

All-Star guard Chris Paul becomes a free agent July 1, and the Clippers have said their top priority is to re-sign him.

BOSTON (AP) — The 50th Super Bowl will be held in the San Francisco Bay Area and the NFL championship will go to Houston the following year.

Team owners voted Tuesday for the 49ers‘ new stadium as host of the 2016 game. That facility in Santa Clara, Calif., is due to open for the 2014 season.

San Francisco beat out South Florida, which was stymied in its bid to stage an 11th Super Bowl when the Florida Legislature did not support financing to renovate Sun Life Stadium.

“After losing a Super Bowl (to Baltimore), it feels really good to win a Super Bowl,” 49ers CEO Jed York cracked.

Houston, which also beat out Miami, was awarded the 2017 title game. It has hosted once before, in 2004.

The only previous Super Bowl played in northern California was at Stanford Stadium in 1985.

When NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced the 2016 decision, members of the San Francisco bid committee let out a roar of approval, then toasted each other with champagne.

“We are so excited to be able to be able to put on the ‘Golden Super Bowl’ in the Golden State,” York said.

Asked what he believed swayed the owners to vote for San Francisco, York added: “It’s the will power of an entire area that gave an overwhelming push for us.”

It was the first time in a decade that a Super Bowl was awarded on the first ballot.

“The Bay Area has been waiting for a (title) game since 1985. We have a stadium now … we are just thrilled and couldn’t be happier about this,” said Daniel Lurie, a leader of the San Francisco bid.

“We are going to get to highlight the best the Bay Area has to offer.”

The Dolphins were denied public money for a stadium upgrade in South Florida following widespread complaints about the public investment sunk into the Marlins’ new baseball home.

Multibillionaire Dolphins owner Stephen Ross contends $ 350 million in stadium improvements are badly needed, but he doesn’t want to pay for them by himself. Nor does he want a scaled-down renovation of the 26-year-old facility.

Miami has hosted 10 Super Bowls, tied with New Orleans for the most. But neither will get the 50th.

York suggested that San Francisco’s winning bid offered a lesson in politics.

“If this Super Bowl can show the state of California and other communities the opportunity with a new stadium to bring in fresh business, it could be a catalyst that stadiums can be built for Oakland and San Diego, which are in need of new ones,” he said. “This may be the impetus to get one of those done.”

For years, it was thought the NFL would seek to stage the 50th Super Bowl in Los Angeles, where the first one was played (but did not sell out) on Jan. 15, 1967. But with no franchise in LA and no suitable stadium projects approved, that hope disappeared.

Next Feb. 2, the game goes outdoors in a cold-weather site for the first time, at MetLife Stadium in the New Jersey Meadowlands. If that gamble pays off for the NFL, look for other cities in similar climates — Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Chicago, Denver — to bid for future Super Bowls.

The 2015 game will be played in the Phoenix area.

Earlier Tuesday, owners approved a $ 200 million loan for stadium construction in Atlanta. The multipurpose stadium could cost as much as $ 1 billion, with team owner Arthur Blank committed to funding most of it. Blank, speaking at the NFL’s spring meetings, called the decision by the team owners an “important milestone” in moving the project forward.

DETROIT (AP) — The Chicago Blackhawks were controlling the puck and dominating play early in the second period. It took all of a half-minute for the Detroit Red Wings to swing the momentum.

Gustav Nyquist and Drew Miller scored 31 seconds apart midway through a previously scoreless game, helping the Red Wings beat the Blackhawks 3-1 on Monday night for a 2-1 lead in their Western Conference second-round series.

The top-seeded Blackhawks refused to roll over, pulling to 2-1 on Patrick Kane‘s goal 4:35 into the third period, and were a judgment call away from tying it about a minute later. Andrew Shaw’s goal, however, was waved off because he was in the crease, the officials ruling he interfered with Detroit goaltender Jimmy Howard.

Chicago coach Joel Quenneville disagreed.

“He didn’t touch the goalie,” Quenneville said simply.

Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford couldn’t touch Pavel Datsyuk’s shot 6:46 into the final period, which had already come back out of the net before Crawford saw it.

Howard stopped 39 shots, while Crawford finished with 27 saves.

As good as seventh-seeded Detroit looked — scoring six straight goals to earn momentum in the series — its hard-driving coach isn’t ready to celebrate.

“We haven’t done anything yet,” Mike Babcock said.

If the Red Wings keep playing this way, though, the Blackhawks will have a long offseason to wonder what went wrong in a season that looked as though it was going to be special.

On Thursday night at home in Game 4, Detroit has a shot to put Chicago on the brink of elimination.

“A lot of guys in this room have been in tough positions before in the playoffs and that’s never stopped us,” Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews said. “We know this is a long series and we’re going to be fighting until the end.”

Chicago’s chances will improve if Toews can end his goal-scoring drought. Toews doesn’t have a goal in nine playoff games, dating to last year, despite matching Patrick Kane with a team-high 23 goals in the 48-game, lockout-shortened season.

Toews did have a game-high seven shots in Game 3, but Howard and his back-checking, shot-blocking teammates wouldn’t let him end his drought.

“If he keeps playing like that, it’ll find a way to get in,” Quenneville said.

Chicago has lost consecutive games for the first time in nearly two months. The Blackhawks began the season by setting an NHL record with at least a point in their first 24 games, ended it with a league-high 77 points and avoided any three-game losing streaks.

“The team is facing a little adversity and I am on a personal basis,” Toews said. “Not going to let that stop us or me.”

After a scoreless first period in a hot and steamy Joe Louis Arena, Detroit took a 2-0 lead with a pretty goal and a gritty one.

Nyquist patiently carried the puck from right to left and waited for defenseman Brent Seabrook and Crawford to sprawl out before shooting the puck into the open net.

“He’s real good at hanging onto the puck,” Babcock said.

Miller crashed the net to stuff the puck in after Patrick Eaves got to his own rebound to keep pressure on Crawford. Blackhawks defenseman Michal Rozsival started the sequence with a turnover in the Chicago zone.

It was a sixth straight unanswered goal in the series for the Red Wings, who lost the series opener 4-1 and gave up the first goal of Game 2 before going on to even the series with a 4-1 victory.

“They’re a real good team and they’re going to carry the play at times,” Babcock said. “We’re a good team and we’re going to carry the play at times.”

NOTES: Chicago hasn’t given up a power-play goal in its first eight playoff games, matching the 2001 St. Louis Blues for the longest such streak since 1988, according to STATS. … Babcock won his 77th postseason game, matching Quenneville for the most among active coaches. They both trail Pat Burns by one for eighth place on the NHL’s all-time list. … The Blackhawks put Viktor Stalberg back in the lineup and scratched Daniel Carcillo. Stalberg got shook up early in the game, missing a check and going head first into the boards.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Ryan Vogelsong broke his throwing hand on a swing after pitching himself toward his first win in seven starts, and the San Francisco Giants returned from a terrible road trip to beat the Washington Nationals 8-0 on Monday night.

The right-hander fouled a ball off his right hand in the bottom of the fifth and grimaced in pain while grabbing the hand. He was quickly examined near the batter’s box and left the game. The Giants later announced the injury, without immediately providing any other details.

Vogelsong (2-4) snapped a six-start winless stretch with just his second victory of 2013 and first since April 11 against the Cubs at Wrigley Field and seemed back on track.

He walked off to warm ovation as Nick Noonan pinch hit. Vogelsong allowed three hits in five scoreless innings and lowered his ERA from 8.06 to 7.19.

Brandon Belt hit a solo home run, matched his career best with four hits and scored three runs as San Francisco pounded a season-high 17 hits. Angel Pagan hit an RBI double and two-run single for San Francisco, also making a great leaping catch against the center-field wall.

Andres Torres had three hits and drove in a run and Marco Scutaro added an RBI single among his two hits.

Vogelsong got the defensive gem from Pagan when the center fielder slammed into the wall on Adam LaRoche’s deep fly in the second.

The 2011 All-Star ended a six-start winless stretch in which he had lost his last two outings and gone 0-3. He was tagged for eight runs — three earned — and six hits in two innings for his shortest outing of the year last Wednesday at Toronto.

Javier Lopez took over for Vogelsong in the top of the sixth and received a little bit more warm up time. Three relievers finished for the Giants’ sixth shutout. San Francisco snapped a three-game skid after a 1-5 road trip through Toronto and Colorado.

Bryce Harper went 0 for 4 in his return to the Nationals’ lineup after last season’s NL Rookie of the Year missed two games with a bruised left knee. He was hurt in a hard collision with the outfield wall a week earlier at Dodger Stadium that also caused him to need 11 stitches on his chin.

Left-hander Zach Duke (0-1) lasted just 3 1-3 innings in a spot start for Ross Detwiler, who is sidelined with back spasms. Duke allowed four runs and seven hits in his first start of the year.

Washington was shut out for the sixth time.

Vogelsong retired the first eight Nationals hitters in order.

The right-hander lasted only 2 2-3 innings in his first career start against Washington last year, allowing eight runs on nine hits with two walks.

Pagan started in center field and batted leadoff after a stomach bug forced him out of Sunday’s 5-0 loss at Colorado in the fifth inning.

Third baseman Pablo Sandoval and manager Bruce Bochy also were ill

“I don’t know how many guys are catching the crud. Pablo’s feeling it, along with myself,” Bochy said.

Scutaro extended his hitting streak to 18 games with a third-inning single. The second baseman fielded Roger Bernadina’s grounder in the fifth but dropped the ball in exchange from glove to hand, for the Giants’ 15th error in their last eight games.

Notes: Nationals OF Jayson Werth, on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right hamstring, is expected to need at least two more weeks to heal after a second MRI showed he “has some problems in there,” Johnson said. “He’s going to rest a bit.” … A moment of silence was held for the Oklahoma tornado victims before the national anthem. … RHP Matt Cain (3-2) starts for the Giants in Tuesday night’s middle game against righty Stephen Strasburg (2-5). … San Francisco’s Buster Posey has hit safely in 11 of his last 12. … Belt’s homer was the Giants’ 21st at home. Last season through their first 23 games at AT&T Park, they had hit just six HRs.

DETROIT (AP) — Gustav Nyquist and Drew Miller scored 31 seconds apart midway through the second period and Pavel Datsyuk restored a two-goal lead in the third to help the Detroit Red Wings beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-1 Monday night to take a 2-1 lead in the second round series.

Patrick Kane scored 4:35 into the third period to pull Chicago within one. The Blackhawks celebrated as if they tied the game about a minute later, but Andrew Shaw’s goal was waved off because he was in the crease.

Datsyuk’s goal 6:46 into the final period gave the Red Wings a 3-1 lead.

The seventh-seeded Red Wings have a shot to put the top-seeded Blackhawks on the brink of elimination Thursday night in Game 4.

Detroit’s Jimmy Howard made 39 saves and Corey Crawford stopped 27 shots.

Chicago has lost consecutive games for the first time in nearly two months.

The Blackhawks began the lockout-shortened season by setting an NHL record with at least a point in their first 24 games, ended it with a league-high 77 points and avoided having a three-game losing streak during the 48-game campaign.

After a scoreless first period in a hot and steamy Joe Louis Arena, Detroit took a 2-0 lead with a pretty goal and a gritty one.

Nyquist patiently carried the puck from right to left and waited for defenseman Brent Seabrook and Crawford to sprawl out to make a shot before shooting the puck.

Miller crashed the net to stuff the puck into the net after Patrick Eaves got to his own rebound to keep pressure on Crawford. Blackhawks defenseman Michal Rozsival started the sequence with a turnover in the Chicago end.

It was a sixth straight goal for the Red Wings, who lost the opener 4-1 and gave up the first goal of Game 2 before going on to even the series with a 4-1 victory.

Chicago escaped getting shut out when Duncan Keith lifted the puck up the ice, over and past Detroit’s defense and Kane got to it in time to beat Howard with a low shot.

Datsyuk gave the Red Wings a comfortable cushion again, getting off a wrist shot from the left side that went in and out of the net before Crawford saw it.

NOTES: Detroit coach Mike Babcock won his 77th postseason game, matching Chicago’s Joel Quenneville for the most among active coaches and trailing Pat Burns by one victory for 8th place on the NHL’s all-time list. … Chicago hasn’t given up a power play goal in its first eight playoff games, matching the 2001 St. Louis Blues for the longest such streak since 1988, according to STATS. … The Blackhawks put Viktor Stalberg back in the lineup, and scratched Daniel Carcillo, and he got shook up early in the game, missing a check and going head first into the boards.