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Red Wings extend unbeaten streak against Kings to 13

Jan 1, 2007 - 4:14 AM DETROIT (Ticker) -- The Detroit Red Wings' balanced scoring attack brought a smile to coach Mike Babcock's face.

Pavel Datsyuk had a goal and an assist and was among six different players to score for the Red Wings, who won for the fifth time in six games with a 6-2 triumph over the Los Angeles Kings.

After going 4-1-1 in their previous six contests against the Minnesota Wild and the Columbus Blue Jackets, Detroit is unbeaten in its last 13 meetings with Los Angeles since October 12, 2002.

"I don't think anybody even knew about that (streak)," Red Wings center Kris Draper said. "It's just a matter of going out and playing hard and competing. It's concentrating on this dressing room and not who we're playing."

Rookie Valtteri Filppula snapped a 1-1 tie with his fourth goal of the season - his first at home - at 4:50 of the second period before Datsyuk netted his 10th just 1:50 later with a wrister from the left faceoff circle that beat goaltender Mathieu Garon.

"The goals are just starting to come," Babcock said. "We think we have good players. It isn't that we didn't practice good or play hard. The pucks just weren't going into the net for a while. You just have to stick with it and things will happen eventually."

Alexander Frolov completed his fifth multi-goal of the campaign and fourth consecutive multi-point outing with his 21st tally, a blast from the top of the slot that got by netminder Dominik Hasek to cut the deficit to 3-2.

However, the Red Wings scored the final three goals to pull away. Draper netted his sixth tally with 2:48 left in the middle session before Mikael Samuelsson and Jason Williams scored 61 seconds apart on the third.

"The (goals) are coming in bunches now," Detroit captain Nicklas Lidstrom said. "It's working for us. We're doing the right thing. We're going to the net now. Like (Draper's) goal. He stayed with it and got the rebound. Those are the kind we're looking for."

A six-time Vezina Trophy winner, Hasek made 28 saves for his sixth consecutive victory and his ninth 20-win season.

"Dom had some big saves when we needed them, but we really didn't have to rely on anything," Draper said. "It was just guys doing responsible things. It was nice to see different guys chip in. When we have a lot of guys scoring goals, we're a tough team to beat."

"We had a real strong start," Lidstrom said. "They got going with the power-play goal, but we got one right back. They were coming at us hard but I thought we responded well after their second goal. Scoring that fourth one in the second period was big for us."

Tomas Holmstrom opened the scoring with his sixth goal at 5:45 of the first period by redirecting Henrik Zetterberg's setup pass inside the left post.

"Those two guys (Datsyuk and Zetterberg) do the magic out there," Holmstrom said. "They just ask me to go to the net. I could have missed it with the way my luck has been going. Pavel got the puck passed it and it went fast, (then) bang, bang, it was in the net."

Garon stopped 26 shots for the Kings before being replaced by Barry Brust after yielding Williams' goal at 5:28 of the third period.

"They put a lot of traffic in front of the net," Garon said. "We got away with it in the first period. We played a little better in the second period, but they finished it off in the third. I wish I could have done more tonight."

"Once they scored that fourth goal, they decided to take over the game," Kings left wing Sean Avery. "When we made it 3-2, (we) had a little momentum, but they took it away. That's what good teams do."