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Red Wings breeze past Kings

Dec 20, 2007 - 4:20 AM By Chuck Klonke PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

DETROIT (Ticker) -- The Detroit Red Wings let the lowly Los Angeles Kings back into the game once but they weren't going to let it happen a second time.

Tomas Holmstrom and Dan Cleary scored second-period goals to break open a tie game and lift Detroit to a 6-2 victory over the Kings in a matchup of the teams with the best and worst records in the NHL.

"We got off to a good start, but in the second period it was like starting over again," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. "It was a good win to end this homestand. Now we go on the road for five games. That'll be a good test for us."

Six different players scored for Detroit while defenseman Niklas Kronwall had a career-high four assists.

Babcock said that he's been trying to get Kronwall to play a bigger role offensively.

"I hope he's got it figured out," Babcock said. "The reason he had four assists tonight is he shot the puck. He always likes to pass, but I'm a believer in shooting the puck, especially on the power play. Most goalies don't let the first shot in, so if you put the puck on the net there's a chance for a rebound."

Kronwall downplayed his productive night.

"Just one of those nights," he said. "What can you say? Our forwards did a nice job and kept getting the rebounds. I just kind of got the lucky bounces and our forwards were able to do a good job with the rebounds. So it was just one of those nights."

The Red Wings improved their league-best mark to 25-6-3. Detroit has points in 12 straight games and has not lost to the Kings in a regular-season home game since Feb. 18, 2000. Detroit is 8-0-4 in that span.

Detroit posted its 25th win in just 34 games, matching the fastest start in team history by the 1995-96 team that amassed an NHL-record 62 victories.

"I just read today that if we won we'd match the start of the team that won 62 games," Babcock said. "The league's tough, though. We just have to keep getting better."

The Red Wings have one fan in Kings goalie Jason LaBarbera.

"There's a reason why they're the best team in the league," he said. "All four lines and all six (defensemen) are on the same page."

Los Angeles fell to 12-21-2 on the season.

After the Kings fell behind, 2-0, Patrick O'Sullivan tied the game at 2-2 15 seconds into the second period on a shot that sailed over goaltender Dominik Hasek's glove.

The Red Wings regained the lead on a strange goal that was credited to Holmstrom at 3:35. Holmstrom lifted the puck toward the net but it deflected off a Kings player and went to LaBarbera.

While LaBarbera initially stopped the puck, he failed to maintain control and it went into the net.

Cleary gave Detroit a two-goal advantage with a power-play goal at 11:15 on a deflection of Kronwall's shot from the point.

"The key is putting a lot of shots on (LaBarbera)," Cleary said. "I thought we controlled the game in every area."

The Red Wings continued the onslaught in the third period when Johan Franzen knocked in a rebound at the 49-second mark. Valtteri Filppula added Detroit's final goal at 8:57.

Detroit jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals by Henrik Zetterberg and Jiri Hudler before Los Angeles' Dustin Brown scored a power-play goal with 1:28 left in the first period.

Zetterberg scored at the 59-second mark while the Red Wings were on the power play. He was surrounded by four Kings players but got a shot away that went into the net under LaBarbera's left pad. It was Zetterberg's 25th goal of the season.

"We got a penalty in the first minute and it went from there," LaBarbera said. "It wasn't one of my better games. There were a lot of deflections and pucks bouncing around in front of the net. That's tough to play."

Hudler scored at 7:37 on a shot that caromed off Los Angeles defenseman Jack Johnson.

Hasek robbed Anze Kopitar twice in the first period, but Brown got the Kings on the board when scored off the rebound of Lubomir Visnovsky's shot.

In making 18 saves, Hasek won his 372nd career game, tying Andy Moog for 12th on the all-time list.