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Conklin gets plenty of support as Red Wings blank Kings

Jan 16, 2009 - 7:16 AM LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- The Detroit Red Wings once again proved they do not necessarily need their crop of All-Stars to shine.

Kirk Maltby and Kris Draper each recorded a goal and an assist and Ty Conklin made 23 saves as the Red Wings continued their dominance of the Los Angeles Kings with a 4-0 triumph on Thursday.

Johan Franzen and Mikael Samuelsson also tallied while Jiri Hudler notched two assists for the Red Wings, who won for the 19th time in their last 21 meetings with the Kings dating to February 24, 2003.

"(We) leave here tonight feeling good," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. "I think it's so important that everyone on your team is confident in everyone's ability. If you're going to be successful, you have to have everyone contributing, and I thought tonight was great."

Conklin turned aside 10 shots in both the first and third periods and made three saves in the second to register his fifth shutout of the season and ninth career.

"This was a great game for us, and we played hard tonight," Conklin said. "We got goals from guys tonight we don't (usually) get it from, which is a good thing to see. We have a lot of guys that can make plays. I just try to go out and play a hard game and hopefully help the team win."

Rookie Jonathan Quick stopped 26 shots for the Kings, who dropped their third consecutive contest.

"They are a very good team and they went right after us tonight," Los Angeles coach Terry Murray said. "We didn't play good on either side, but we definitely took this as a learning experience. They put pressure on us defensively, which made it hard for us to get any good shots off on goal."

"We've scored one goal in the last two games here, and that just won't cut it," Kings center Anze Kopitar said. "We have to find a way to score and find a way to win. It's that point in the season when you have to keep pushing for the playoffs or you fall back. The past three years, we broke apart in this time of the season and were playing for nothing."

Detroit star Pavel Datsyuk, who had recorded six goals and 14 points in his previous 10 contests, was kept off the scoresheet, as was fellow All-Star Marian Hossa. But the Red Wings' supporting cast stepped up and helped the team notch its eighth win in nine games.

"It's funny to see us get a win when our main scorers don't put the puck in the net," Draper said. "It's good to help contribute toward a win for us. We just want to finish up strong before the break and then get ready to come out and play good in the second half of the season."

Maltby gave Conklin all the support he needed 7:40 into the first period, converting a pass from Draper while standing on the doorstep. For Maltby, who had been a healthy scratch for Wednesday's 4-3 triumph over the Anaheim Ducks, it was just his fourth goal of the season.

"I felt like I played more of a part in the offense tonight, and it felt good, but getting the win is the most important thing," Maltby said. "We are just trying to go out there and play hard before the break. We played good team defense tonight and shut them out."

Franzen registered his 20th tally by tipping Henrik Zetterberg's shot past Quick with 3:16 left in the session.

Samuelsson added to Detroit's lead by firing a wrist shot from the low slot by Quick at 9:43 of the second, and Draper capped the scoring with a hard slap shot just over four minutes later.

"Any success we've ever had, you always need the third and fourth lines going, and I don't expect the fourth line, or any line really, to guarantee two points or two goals as a line," Maltby said. "But when we contribute and help chip in offensively, it makes it so much easier for everyone else."

The Kings, who suffered their seventh loss in nine home games, were without the services of injured defenseman Drew Doughty. Drafted second overall last June, the rookie missed his first career NHL contest with a thigh injury suffered in Monday's 3-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

"Well, when we have lost as many as we have, it's hard to be happy," Murray said. "Losing is hard, and we have to get ourselves out of this. We're bringing a lot of the problems on ourselves with puck management. We're turning the pucks over and not getting enough pucks to the net. We have got to be hungrier, much hungrier, than what we are."

"Obviously, we've been struggling out there for two weeks or so," Los Angeles' Patrick O'Sullivan added. "It's very disappointing. The season can go one way or another right now, and that's what's happened with this organization in the past. Right around this time, everything falls apart. Games start to get away from you, and then the season is over".