Red Wings Drop Third-straight at Home in 2-1 Loss to Kings

The Detroit Red Wings’ woes at Joe Louis Arena continued on Wednesday as they lost their third consecutive home game, a 2-1 decision to the Los Angeles Kings.

With the loss, the Red Wings dropped to 17-11-4 at home this season while carrying a 22-9-4 road record.

The Kings used a two-goal second period to beat Detroit.

At 7:50 of the period, Anze Kopitar drove to the net and banged home the rebound of a Dustin Penner shot after goalie Jimmy Howard couldn’t corral the puck.

With 5:17 remaining, Dustin Brown tipped a Alec Martinez shot past Howard on a power play. The shot was also tipped by Alexei Ponikarovsky en route to the net.

The Red Wings were unhappy with the second goal as it came just moments after Michael Handzus cut Nicklas Lidstrom with an inadvertant high stick. No penalty was called on the play.

Detroit’s lone goal came 5:57 into the first period, when a Darren Helm slap shot from the right faceoff circle squeaked through goaltender Jonathan Quick’s pads.

Quick finished the night with 28 saves on 29 shots. Howard stopped 24 of the 26 chances he faced.

Los Angeles went one-for-three on the power play while the Red Wings did not score on two power play tries.

Detroit is back in action on Friday when they host the Edmonton Oilers.