Ericsson’s Late Goal Lifts Red Wings over Kings

Detroit defenseman Jonathan Ericsson scored with just 4.5 seconds remaining on Sunday afternoon, giving the Red Wings a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings in a game that looked like it was heading to overtime.

Ericsson’s blast from above the top of the right faceoff circle found its way through traffic and squeaked between the pads of Kings netminder Jonathan Quick before sliding across the goal line.

Los Angeles’ Alec Martinez had seemingly forced overtime with 53 seconds remaining when he came out of the corner and knocked the loose rebound of a Kyle Clifford chance past Jimmy Howard to make it 2-2.

Howard kept the Wings in the game after they took a 2-1 lead out of the first period, making 45 saves on 47 shots in earning the win. In the scoreless second period alone, Howard stopped 23 shots. Quick, meanwhile, made 28 saves on 31 shots.

Pavel Datsyuk’s power play goal at 5:44 of the first period opened the game’s scoring. Datsyuk took a pass from Henrik Zetterberg at the LA blue line and split the defense, racing in on Quick and lifting a shot into the top of the net.

Damien Brunner made it 2-0 with 2:32 left in the period off a pass from Zetterberg. Zetterberg gained the Kings zone and drew three defenders to him in the high slot before passing off to Brunner for a snapper from the right circle past Quick.

The Kings got on the board with just 41 seconds left in the first when Anze Kopitar banged home the rebound of a Rob Scuderi shot.

The Red Wings continued their special teams improvement from Saturday’s game against the Edmonton Oilers, holding the Kings off the scoreboard on three power play tries while scoring on one of their four attempts with the man-advantage.

Detroit is now off until Wednesday when they host the St. Louis Blues.