Detroit Red Wings ride Dylan Larkin, Patrick Kane to 5-3 victory over Los Angeles Kings
A second-period burst gave the Detroit Red Wings the boost they needed to keep rolling.
They extended their point streak to five games Saturday, taking advantage of a struggling Los Angeles Kings team to win, 5-3, at Little Caesars Arena. Dylan Larkin and Patrick Kane each had a pair of pair of points as the Wings won for the fifth time in seven games.
Larkin's two goals put the Wings (21-16-5) in the lead midway through the game. There were less than 4 minutes left in the second period when Robby Fabbri banged Daniel Sprong's rebound into an open net. Less than a minute later, Kane showed off his skills when he stickhandled the puck in from the blue line to net his seventh goal of the season. The Wings caught a break when a scramble in Detroit's crease left Alex Lyon on his back as the puck went in; Detroit successfully challenged the goal on goalie interference, and it was overturned to keep the score at 4-1.
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The Wings' lead grew to 5-1 when Jeff Petry took a shot from the blue line and Andrew Copp and Christian Fischer were both by the net; Copp was credited for the goal, which came with 12.5 seconds left in the second period.
The Wings needed the cushion as the Kings, who came in winless in their past seven games, surged in the third period. They replaced Cam Talbot with David Rittich, and made things interesting when they converted on back-to-back power plays, getting one goal from PIerre-Luc Dubois and another from Quinton Byfield. Lyon made 17 saves in the third period for 33 total.
Getting started
The Wings got an early boost when Larkin angled a shot along the goal line that eluded Talbot, making it 1-0 just 2:44 into the game. A tripping call on Justin Holl sent the Kings on a power play at 5:49, and a minute later they converted when Byfield took a pass from Anze Kopitar and scored from the slot to make it 1-1. The Kings fed off that momentum, while the Wings had a hard time getting shots through when they were able to enter L.A.'s zone. A power play a little past the midpoint swung momentum back to the Wings, with Lucas Raymond forcing a good save from Talbot.
Man advantage
There wasn't much going either way in the second period until Larkin drew a tripping penalty on Drew Doughty at 7:39. That man advantage grew to two when Trevor Moore was called for playing with a broken stick at 9:08; there wasn't much he could do, but that's the rule. It set the Wings up for 31 seconds on a 5-on-3, but all they needed was 9 seconds. Larkin won the draw against Kopitar, Kane got the puck and fired it towards the net, where Larkin was in position to add his 16th goal of the season off the rebound.
Moving up, moving in
Defennseman Jake Walman was unavailable because of illness, so Olli Määtta moved up to the top pairing opposite Moritz Seider, and Holl entered the lineup after being a scratch the previous two games. The Wings, who were scheduled to leave immediately after the game for Toronto, where they play the Maple Leafs Sunday night, called up Brogan Rafferty as a reserve. Up front, head coach Derek Lalonde said Friday that Klim Kostin is expected to be available any day now.
Contact Helene St. James at hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames.
Read more on the Detroit Red Wings and sign up for our Red Wings newsletter. Her latest book, “On the Clock: Behind the Scenes with the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL Draft,” is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Triumph Books. Personalized copies available via her e-mail.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Red Wings keep points streak live with 5-3 win over L.A. Kings
