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Red Wings seek revenge versus the Kings

Dec 13, 2010 - 4:04 PM (Sports Network) - The Detroit Red Wings will try to avenge a loss to the Kings from earlier this month when they host Los Angeles tonight at Joe Louis Arena.

The Red Wings played in Los Angeles on Dec. 4 and were dealt a 3-2 setback when Anze Kopitar scored the game-winner with 56 seconds left in overtime. It was the third straight win over Detroit for the Kings, who had lost their previous six games in this series.

The Kings won their last game in the Motor City, but are still just 2-11-3 with one tie in their last 17 trips to Detroit.

Los Angeles is kicking off a five-game road trip tonight and would like to pick up the pace away from California during this swing. The Kings have lost five of their last six road tests and are just 5-8-0 this season as the guest.

The Kings had a three-game winning streak snapped on Saturday, but were able to salvage a point in the overtime loss to visiting Minnesota. Brent Burns scored 2:50 into overtime on the power play, lifting the Wild to the 3-2 victory at Staples Center.

Dustin Brown had a goal and an assist, and Ryan Smyth also scored for the Kings, who failed to complete a perfect four-game homestand. Jonathan Quick made only 18 stops in defeat.

"It's extremely unfortunate," Quick said. "We outplayed them for a majority of that game. You just got to be better, you can't make those mistakes. Those can't happen."

Kings forward Brad Richardson missed Saturday's game with an upper-body injury and is expected to miss tonight's test as well.

Meanwhile, the Red Wings are coming off consecutive victories, as they posted a home win over Montreal on Friday before beating the Devils in New Jersey the following night.

Pavel Datsyuk tallied a goal and two assists as Detroit got a rare win in New Jersey, beating the Devils by a 4-1 score at Prudential Center.

Henrik Zetterberg and Tomas Holmstrom both finished with a goal and an assist for the Red Wings, who won for only the second time in their last 10 games as a visitor in the Garden State.

Dan Cleary notched the other goal, while Chris Osgood stopped 33 shots in the win.

Detroit attacked quickly with two goals during the first two minutes of the contest. The first came only 28 seconds in after Datsyuk ripped a shot from the right point. A little over a minute later, Cleary scored on wrist shot from the left circle to give Detroit a 2-0 lead.

"It was very early in the game. If they get just one goal, they're right back in it," Red Wings defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom said. "You can't relax and you can't take anything for granted. We had to continue to skate too. I thought we had a little letdown midway through the first period, but we started skating again in the second."

Tonight marks the first of two straight on home ice for the Central Division- leading Red Wings, who have an excellent 11-3-2 record at the Joe this season. Next up for Detroit is Wednesday's game against St. Louis.