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Osgood stellar as Red Wings edge Kings

Feb 28, 2009 - 5:23 AM DETROIT (Ticker) -- Chris Osgood shined in his return to the crease after a nearly two-week hiatus for a "mental recharge."

Osgood made 30 saves and Tomas Kopecky scored a key goal early in the third period as the Detroit Red Wings posted a 2-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Friday.

"It felt good," Osgood said. "It's just another phase in my career. It's just one game. I'm going to keep doing what I've been doing in practice and stay in the right mindset. I just have to make sure I don't lapse back."

Defenseman Derek Meech also tallied for Detroit, which has won four of its last five.

Alexander Frolov netted a power-play goal and rookie Jonathan Quick stopped 39 shots for the Kings, who lost for the fourth time in five contests.

"I think we did some good things in the first period," Los Angeles coach Terry Murray said. "We managed the puck well and was getting it on the net. Unfortunately, we made some passes through the middle of the ice and that gave Detroit some momentum on turnovers."

Osgood has maintained a respectable record despite struggling this season. The 36-year-old has posted a 19-5-7 mark and entered this contest with a shoddy 3.29 goals-against average.

"The physical skills were always there," Osgood said. "It was just a matter of resetting my mind and just playing the moment. Now this game is over. I've always been like that but for some reason I got away from that the first half of the year.

"You can fill your mind with too many things and it's hard to play when you've got a lot of stuff in your head. I really felt tonight like I was back to where I was in the playoffs. I wasn't thinking about anything when I was playing."

A 14-year veteran with three Stanley Cup rings, Osgood - who has been getting challenged by Ty Conklin for the starting job - had allowed three or more goals in nine of his previous 10 appearances.

"I don't want to think about goals anymore," Osgood said. "I just want to think about winning games and getting ready to go down the stretch here."

However, his stellar effort enabled the Red Wings to complete a sweep of the season series with the Kings.

Meech opened the scoring by collecting a loose puck in the crease it tapping it past Quick with 7:52 remaining in the second period.

"Coming in and out of the lineup like I do, I just want to contribute any way I can and I guess I contributed tonight," Meech said. "Our big guys have been doing such a great job all year, but the great teams need that secondary scoring. I'm fortunate I was able to score one tonight."

Kopecky, who was a healthy scratch in Wednesday's 4-1 win over the San Jose Sharks, doubled the bulge at 1:43 of the third, accepting a pass from Valtteri Filppula and firing a snap shot into the vacant net.

"We played well," Quick said. "They just ended up scoring one more goal than us."

Frolov cut the deficit in half three minutes later with a wrist shot from the low slot, but Osgood was impenetrable the rest of the way.

"You don't just get lucky," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. "If you work hard good things happen to you. All the credit goes to Ozzie. Tonight was a real positive showing for him. I'm sure he feels good about himself. Now he can breathe a little and not carry the weight of the world around."