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Cleary's late goal lifts Red Wings past Kings

Dec 21, 2008 - 3:45 AM DETROIT (Ticker) -- Daniel Cleary snapped a tie with 94 seconds left in the third period to propel the Detroit Red Wings to a 6-4 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday.

Jiri Hudler scored the tying goal with less than four minutes remaining and assisted Cleary's game-winner for the Red Wings, who have won seven of their last nine games.

Ty Conklin made 22 saves and Pavel Datsyuk, Mikael Samuelsson, Kris Draper and defenseman Andreas Lilja also tallied for Detroit, which overcame a late deficit to defeat the Kings for the second time this season.

Rallying is becoming a habit for the Red Wings, who have trailed in 11 of their last 12 contests.

"I think we play better when we're down a goal," Cleary said. "When the chips are down, we find a way to tie it or win it. We just have to get that urgency and mindset early in games when we're ahead or even.

"Tonight wasn't our best effort but their goalie played well. We had some chances on them. They created some offense. It was back-to-back nights for them. They played hard. I think we just wore them down."

Rookie Trevor Lewis, Alexander Frolov, Kyle Calder and captain Dustin Brown each netted a goal for Los Angeles, which was handed its fourth consecutive loss.

"It's just a matter of us learning to bear down and win games," Brown said. "To fall apart and not even get a point is disappointing. I thought we worked hard. It's just a matter of being smarter."

After Brown converted a 2-on-1 rush with Jarret Stoll to give the Kings a 4-3 edge at the 2:25 mark of the final session, it appeared that Los Angeles was going to beat the defending Stanley Cup champions.

But Hudler notched his 13th goal of the season from the edge of the crease off a pass from Valtteri Filppula to tie the game and, more importantly, turn the momentum back to the Red Wings with 3:43 left in regulation.

On his next shift, Hudler led a 3-on-2 rush and dished the puck to Cleary, who stopped at the left faceoff circle and waited for Hudler to set the screen. Cleary then unleashed a wrist shot past Kings netminder Jonathan Quick, who finished with 30 saves in his first career start.

"We talked about putting pucks on the net," Cleary said. "That was pretty much our game plan. 'Huds' made a good play getting to the middle and putting the screen on. I made sure I got it on net, and it went in."

Draper sealed the win with an empty-netter with 24 seconds remaining and captain Nicklas Lidstrom had three assists for Detroit, which trails only the San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference standings.

Lidstrom moved past Larry Robinson into eighth place on the career points list for defensemen with 960. He also moved past Denis Potvin into eighth place for career assists by a blue-liner with 744.

"It means a lot," Lidstrom said. "Those are players I had a chance to watch. I admired them and looked up to them. It's something I'm proud of."

Lilja, who gave the Red Wings a 2-1 edge with 7:36 remaining in the first, snapped an 80-game goalless streak. He had not scored since December 9, 2007.

"It's about time," Lilja said. "I'm just trying to be a steady defenseman and deliver the puck to people who are skating. If I get a goal once in a while, that's fine."

Playing in his second NHL game, Lewis scored his first career goal to open the scoring 86 seconds into the contest.