Red Wings Wrap Homestand with Win over Kings

The Detroit Red Wings closed out a stretch that saw them play nine of eleven games at home Wednesday night, finishing the run with a 6-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings.

The Red Wings earned 21 of a possible 22 points in that time. They will now play five games in a row on the road.

Detroit took control of the game early but the Kings made a several-minute run at the end of the first period and early in the second, tying the game before the Red Wings regained control.

Henrik Zetterberg got the Red Wings on the board just 59 seconds into the game with a power play goal. Nicklas Lidstrom held the puck in at the Kings’ blue line and worked it to Zetterberg near the slot for a quick wrister past goalie Jason Labarbara.

At 7:37 of the period, Jiri Hudler stretched the Wings’ lead to two, putting in the rebound of a blast from the blue line by Niklas Kronwall.

Dustin Brown’s power play goal with 1:28 left in the first got the Kings on the board and Patrick O’Sullivan scored on a rush just 15 seconds into the second period to even things up.

Tomas Holmstrom put the Wings back in the lead 3:20 later, poking the puck from under Labarbara and into the net after a shot by Zetterberg.

Dan Cleary restored Detroit’s two-goal lead on the power play with 8:15 remaining in the middle frame, tipping a Kronwall shot from the blue line.

Johan Franzen and Valtteri Filppula closed out the game’s scoring in the third period.

Frazen scored just 49 seconds in, knocking home the rebound of an Andreas Lilja shot. Filppula’s goal came at 8:57 when his shot on goal was tipped past Labarbara by defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky.

Labarbara finished the night with 29 saves on 35 shots. Dominik Hasek made 18 saves on 20 shots in Detroit’s net.

Detroit went two-for-five with the extra attacker while the Kings were one-for-four.

The Red Wings are back in action on Thursday when they visit the St. Louis Blues in the second of three games in four nights.

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Kris Draper returned to the Detroit lineup after missing nine games with a knee injury. Aaron Downey was a healthy scratch to make room for Draper… Kronwall’s four assists were a career-high.