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Datsyuk, Zetterberg power Red Wings past Kings

Oct 28, 2008 - 6:26 AM LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg may have sealed the win, but it was Valtteri Filppula who helped the Detroit Red Wings keep their winning streak alive.

Datsyuk and Zetterberg both tallied in the shootout after Filppula evened the score late in regulation as the Red Wings skated away with a 4-3 victory against the Los Angeles Kings on Monday night.

Trailing, 3-2, in the final minutes of the contest, Filppula scored with 1:54 remaining to tie the score for Detroit, which has won five straight games, the last two coming in shootouts.

"It was one of those games where you have to find a way to win," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "I thought for the last 10 minutes, we really tilted the rink. We had a lot of opportunities and eventually we forced a turnover and we were able to bury one."

Kings defenseman Denis Gauthier had the puck behind his own net and started to carry it out. Instead of sending the puck up the boards and out of the defensive zone, Gauthier attempted to pass to a teammate in the center of the ice. Filppula intercepted the pass in the right faceoff circle and beat Jason LaBarbera on his right side with a wrister from point-blank range.

"When you're up a goal with a minute-and-a-half left, you'd like to be able to get those two points," LaBarbera said. "They were pressing us in the third and I thought we did a pretty good job holding the fort down. It was just one bad break and they capitalized on it.

"We definitely can skate with them. When they start pressuring us, we need to stick to our systems and keep it simple."

In the bonus format, Datsyuk scored on LaBarbera with a backhanded shot over the goalie's left pad on Detroit's first opportunity and Zetterberg handed the Red Wings the victory with a similar move.

LaBarbera fell for a fake by Zetterberg, who pulled the puck to his right and backhanded it into a wide open net for the game-winner.

"It's good for the confidence," Zetterberg said of his shootout tally. "It's important to get out to a great start. Even though we haven't played our best, we're getting our wins. One of the things we can improve on is the defense, and I think we took a step forward in that today."

Zetterberg opened the scoring in the first period and Marian Hossa also tallied for the Red Wings.

The 28-year-old left wing, Zetterberg scored his fifth goal of the season 5:54 into the opening frame. He took a pass from defenseman Brian Rafalski and netted a wrist shot from 20 feet out.

A power-play goal by rookie Oscar Moller midway through the first period evened the score and Kyle Calder's first goal of the campaign gave the Kings a 2-1 lead just over a minute into the second period.

"We did some good things. We showed a lot of competitiveness, we worked very hard and we showed intelligence," Los Angeles coach Terry Murray said. "We found people at the right time. We were against one of the premier teams and did a good job."

Hossa extended his current consecutive points streak to seven games and pulled Detroit even on a 5-on-3 power play just before the midway mark of the second period.

The Slovakian carried the puck into the offensive zone, splitting the Kings' defense He fired a wrist shot past LaBarbera's stick side for his fifth goal during his surge.

Alexander Frolov gave the Kings the lead 46 seconds into the third period when he cut to the net from the boards and tried to backhand the puck across the slot. His centering pass bounced off the right foot of defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom and past goaltender Chris Osgood, who finished with 16 saves.

"It was kind of a tough, cheesy goal that goes in," Babcock said of the Kings' third goal. "You just stay determined."