Red Wings-Kings quick take: Dang.

The Detroit Red Wings stand on the precipice of being a not-very-good team. At 7-8-and-1, the Wings have fallen behind the Bruins, Bolts, Senators and Sabres in the Atlantic Division standings, and all four of those teams are succeeding in getting their shit together after middling starts.

Last night’s loss to Anaheim left some Red Wings fans in a panic–and some just angry–and tonight, the Red Wings faced a 9-6-and-3 Los Angeles Kings team attempting to assuage a 2-game losing streak.

On Saturday night in Los Angeles, Detroit tried really hard for about 5-10 minutes of a 4-1 loss to the Kings that was nothing less than clinical for Los Angeles. Dylan Larkin, who was visibly distressed and angry during the game’s stoppages, scored a gorgeous little backhand marker in the final minute of play, spoiling David Rittich’s shutout, but other than Cam Talbot stopping 37 of 40 shots, and Patrick Kane doing some stuff with Marco Kasper and Vladimir Tarasenko on a new line, Detroit didn’t get much done.

Detroit falls to 1-and-2 on their road trip, and they’ll need to beat the Sharks and beat them decisively to quiet the talk of firing the coach, the GM, and trading everyone away.

During the pregame skate, the Kings tabbed David Rittich as their starting goaltender (as Darcy Kuemper is injured)…

Detroit had Simon Edvinsson (knee), Tyler Motte and Justin Holl join warmups…

And the Kings lined up as follows…

The Red Wings scratched Michael Rasmussen and Simon Edvinsson (knee; who took warmups), so Justin Holl and Tyler Motte drew in, with Albert Johansson remaining in the lineup after being listed as an early scratch:

Here are the starters and scratches:

In the 1st period, the puck hit the ice at Crypto.com arena at 8:10 PM, with Copp taking hte faceoff vs. Kopitar, who won the draw.

LA went D to D, flipped the puck to the Wings’ blueline, and Moritz Seider iced the puck 12 seconds in.

Compher dialed in for the right faceoff circle draw and won it, so Kane broke out to center, but LA reversed, Kane helped Seider at center once and then twice, Compher and Copp were stifled in the Kings’ end, and Detroit changed 44 seconds into the 1st period, hemmed in their own zone;

DeBrincat, Raymond and Larkin battled down low, could not clear, and LA battled the puck on the cycle to their defense, where Mikey Anderson sent the puck wide of Talbot;

Detroit battled the puck again as Talbot made a good save on Moore, Larkin and Chiarot continued in their own zone nearly 2:00 into shifts for Seider and Chiarot, and LA continued to cycle, but LA persisted, and Berggren, Tarasenko and Kasper could not help the fray, either.

Talbot made a good stop and then Berggren flicked the puck down ice to afford Chiarot and Seider recovery at 2:51 on the ice.

Detroit at least got north of center ice and Motte stole the puck from Rittich, but he had to push the puck back to Petry, and Fischer chipped the puck wide of Rittich into the crowd.

The Wings continued their 4-line rotation with the Compher line returning to the ice with Johansson and Holl some 3:40 into the 1st, and the Wings surrendered a rush to LA but not a shot.

As play continued, Raymond stole a loose puck in the Wings’ slot, rotated with DeBrincat, Gustafsson tried to center for Larkin, and instead, the Kings pushed into the Wings’ zone.

Detroit counterattacked, with Seider holding the zone, Larkin circled the net, and he could not center the puck for Raymond backdoor.

Tarasenko at least got a shot attempt a little wide of Rittich some 5:30 into the game, and Berggren took the rebound and wrapped it to jab a rebound in on Rittich as well.

With dueling chants at Crypto.com arena going in the crowd, Compher, Copp and Kane worked a broken play into the Kings’ zone, LA reversed teh flow, and Kempe and Turcotte battled Chiarot and Seider, Compher dropped to Kane to Copp and Compher sent a shot toward the net that was blocked by Turcotte.

Seider made a bad turnover and Fiala nearly scored but Talbot made a big stop, Edmundson held the puck in, and the Larkin line got hemmed into its own end…

But DeBrincat and Larkin broke in 2-on-2, and Gustafsson sent a backhand on Rittich coming off the bench.

As Detroit cycled and changed,d Raymond fed Kasper, but Berggren could not keep the puck in the zone, Detroit recoiled at center, and Tarasenko sent a Holl pass wide;

Gustafsson made a terrible giveaway and Talbot stopped a shot that bounced off Jeff Petry, and the Wings’ Veleno line tangled with Helenius and the Kings’ fourth line, with Detroit ultimately dumping the puck to center and changing personnel.

The Compher line was having a particularly difficult time vs. Kopitar and company, and Talbot made TWO big stops on Turcotte approximately 10:50 into the 1st.

Detroit iced the puck at 10:53, requiring Compher & company to remain on the ice, and Talbot had to stop an 8th shot before the first TV timeout.

When play resumed, Detroit’s captain tied up a draw with Fiala, Raymond at least flittered the puck into LA’s zone, and Gavrikov and the Kings set up to break out and break into Detroit’s zone, where Larkin back-checked, charged through center ice and fired a shot on Rittich;

Chiarot and Seider were blocked off, and LA and Detroit changed at center ice 11:48 into the 1st, with Berggren skating the puck up ice to center, before he was stopped in front of a dynamic Red Wings bench (there were changes going on).

After another TV timeout, Kasper, Berggren and Tarasenko had to help Johansson and Holl push the Kings to the end boards, where Byfield and the Kings held the puck and worked a slot shot into Talbot’s blocker and away from the goal;

At center, Kasper chipped, Detroit changed, and the Veleno line worked with Gustafsson and Petry to get a 4th shot on Rittich.

Copp, Kane and Compher worked a pass back to Seider for a shot that was blocked, and LA went the other way, with Edmundson was blocked off, Compher lost the blade on his skate and Detroit changed, with Larkin feeding Raymond for a glorious chance that was succeeded by a point shot from Gustafsson.

After another TV timeout, Talbot had to chip a puck away from the goal, Moore and Fiala tipped another shot on Talbot, and Talbot had to stop a third shot from the Kings’ defense with his glove.

LA really controlled play for the most part, and Movevare got a shot off before Kasper, Berggren and Tarasenko generated a shot that Rittich booted away;

Seider then inexplicably dumped the puck down ice for an icing with 4:22 remaining in the 1st period, hemming the Veleno line in for an icing faceoff, which Byfield won to Anderson, LA cycled, Veleno hit Byfield, and Detroit was able to at least start a change as LA dumped the puck back in from center ice.

LA continued to cycle as Byfield and Laferiere worked the puck to the point, and Talbot stopped a 12th shot against.

A good steal from Patrick Kane yielded a shot on Rittich, but LA continued to dominate possession and control, rolling back into Detroit’s zone, resetting at center, and chipping and chasing, with Talbot reversing flow to Petry, who got help from Larkin and Raymond as Detroit regrouped and DeBrincat got a great chance in on Rittich that was stifled;

Larkin cycled with Johansson, whose shot was blocked, and LA’s Danault tied up Johansson, but Holl backhanded the puck into traffic, Larkin and Raymond could not clear the center ice red line, Andersson charged into the zone and sent one off Talbot and it was 1-0 LA.

Anderson scored LA’s 1-0 goal from Danault at 18:05.

Worse, Gustafsson fell in the offensive zone, Los Angeles raced the other way and Tanner Jeannot scored a goal off a 2-on-1 that Petry did not play well.

Tanner Jeannot scored from Trevor Lewis at 18:25, 20 seconds after the 1st goal. 2-0 LA.

Veleno, Fischer, Motte and Seider and Chiarot worked the puck deep, Seider walked the line for Chiarot and he blasted a shot wide off a Kings player;

Motte helped Chiarot clear the zone and Detroit changed, with Seider and Chiarot playing catch in the final minute of play, but Kane, Copp and Compher could not sustain possession in Los Angeles’ zone, and so LA continued to cycle and parry Detroit’s rushes as the 1st period came to a close with Rittich playing the puck to his D off a dump-in by Compher.

In the 2nd period, Detroit began the period with the Larkin line, Chiarot and Seider, and Detroit won the opening draw, but LA generated both a chip-in and their defense flickered a hard shot in on Talbot that he had to squeeze tight in the butterfly to stop.

LA won the next faceoff and Talbot held onto a 17th shot in 20:40 of play.

Compher at least won a faceoff and Copp tipped it to the Kings’ line before Kempe raced back and Talbot tapped his shot with the glove wide;

Kane, Compher and Copp cycled and Kane could not score due to a Fiala backcheck;

LA broke in 3 on 3, but Petry and Gustafsson made a good stop;

LA cycled a spin pass from Moore that Detroit stopped, Raymond found Larkin and he was stopped by the stick of Rittich some 89 seconds into the 2nd.

Larkin then lost a tied-up faceoff, LA tipped the puck down the ice, and Detroit regrouped, with Larkin, Johansson and Raymond pushing the puck deep, flickering it around the end boards, and Johansson keeping the puck in the zone for a moment.

LA regrouped and Detroit’s Berggren, Kasper and Tarasenko worked deep, Berggren was tripped sans call, Petry dumped a King sans call, and the tone for the refereeing was established: NO HARM NO FOUL.

LA was doing a lot of pinning Detroit to the boards and taking the puck away, and that was legal, too.

LA broke in 2-on-1 and at least Jeannot was blocked out of play at 3:19.

Talbot made a good stop on the Kings’ D on the next shift;

Kopitar fed his point man as the Kings continued to cycle, and Talbot stopped shot 19 at 3:55.

Detroit continued to struggle as play progressed, and Justin Holl was being manhandled by Byfield, resulting in a Kings cycle and Spence, Byfield and Foegle getting 50 seconds of zone time until Motte bumped Byfield, Veleno got hit at center, Motte was dumped in the offensive zone, and as Detroit attempted to cycle with Larkin and Fischer, nothing was called by the referees.

Rittich made an error as Raymond, DeBrincat and Larkin tried to cycle, but LA bailed him out, and Fiala fed Kempe for a shot that went wide of Talbot;

Phillip Danault blasted a shot off Talbot’s blocker, and Anderson put shot #21 off Talbot at 6:02 of the 2nd.

The first TV timeout gave Detroit a breather, but LA kept winning faceoffs and cycling or pushing the puck deep into Detroit’s zone, and when Tarasenko was able to fire a shot in on Rittich, it was after the whistle due to an offside.

So a scrum developed and nothing came from it.

The faceoff at the Kings’ line was won and Seider sent a puck in deep on the second attempt, but LA reversed flow, Lewis and Jeannot battled Seider and Chiarot, Turcotte pushed back and Kane, Kasper and Tarasenko raced up 3-on-2, with Kane feeding Kasper for a shot into Rittich.

Detroit was shuffling lines, with Kane skating with Kasper and Tarasenko, and Berggren working with Copp and Compher.

Berggren busted his ass as usual as Detroit won a faceoff and cycled a bit, but LA won the next draw and fired shot #22 on Talbot, Copp, Berggren and Compher pushed back, and Gustafsson pinched and worked a pass to Berggren, who sent a saucer pass to Copp, who could not tip the puck home;

LA regrouped and worked the puck deep, and Talbot made a good stop on Foegle, Petry gave up the puck and Laferiere cycled with Byfield, whose shot was tipped high, Talbot made a redirection stop, Gavrikov and Anderson held the line, the Compher line was pinned, and the Wings barely cleared the zone, changed, and let LA ice the puck at 9:20 of the 2nd.

Larkin, DeBrincat and Raymond charged over the boards, lost the offensive zone draw, and surrendered a 3-on-3 rush that Seider had to clean up and Raymond iced at 9:44.

On the D-zone draw, LA won it from Larkin and Talbot had to glove down a point shot for shot #24 for LA.

Detroit changed lines for the next defensive zone draw, Veleno won it, gave and went with Motte, and cycled down into LA’s zone, with Fischer helping the cause, but LA stripped Detroit of the puck, rushed into Detroit’s zone, and Talbot watched a shot whiffle wide…

Detroit at least generated a shot on Rittich as the second TV timeout hit at 10:37.

When play resumed, Albert Johansson at least blocked a Helenius shot attempt out of play;

The pace of the game was flat–flatter than the gravelly ice in Los Angeles–and Chiarot at least skated up the left wing and sent a shot in on Rittich at 11:11 of the 2nd period.

Larkin was losing faceoffs, however, and when DeBrincat took a won faceoff and blasted a shot attempt, it was deflected to the corner;

Chiarot regained the rebound and fired another shot into Rittich, but he saw the shot all the way.

Kopitar and his linemates then hemmed in the Compher group, and Clarke sent a shot in on Talbot that was stopped…

Berggren was at least blasting bodies and playing with energy on the Compher line, Copp cycled to Petry at the blueline some 12:25 into the 2nd, and Compher sente a centering pass from Berggren wide;

Gustafsson fed Berggren, whose shot was blocked in front, and Detroit was finally pressuring LA;

Veleno, Motte and Fischer were impeded trying to push the puck into LA’s zone, sans penalty as per usual in this game, and LA went the other way, cycled down low for Foegle, but Detroit broke out;

Johansson and Holl chipped, Detroit changed with 6:18 left in the 2nd, Kasper, Johansson and Tarasenko helped block off a Fiala rebound chance, and LA sent shot #25 in on Talbot.

Detroit lost the defensive zone draw, and Talbot booted it into the crowd with 5:54 left.

As the teams returned from a TV timeout, Larkin won a draw, Seider and Raymond flipped the puck out to the LA line, but the Kings reversed the flow, and Chiarot and Seider iced the puck, but Rittich played it to his defensemen.

Up to center and in the Kings went, they blocked off Raymond, Seider flipped the puck out to Raymond, Larkin raced in, but his shot was blocked into the crowd.

LA won the offensive zone draw that resulted, worked the perimeter, and Kopitar was blocked off by Compher, who worked with Copp to push the puck deep in LA territory.

Berggren was pinned to the boards, however, so up came LA again, and they went offside, flipped a puck out of play on the next exchange, and parried a Detroit chip-in back to center, and into Detroit’s zone, where Kane and Holl worked the puck to LA’s blueline, but no further.

Kasper at least backchecked well, skated hard to center, and worked with Kane to laterally pass it to Tarasenko, who blasted a banger wide of Rittich.

Motte, Veleno and Fischer joined the fray, and Seider pinched to help harass the Kings’ defense.

Hacks and whacks were exchanged, but Laferiere walked around Seider and nearly banked a shot in off Talbot’s head;

LA cycled again, and Talbot made a good stop on an Edmundson shot with 2:28 left in the 2nd.

Detroit pushed the frustrated Larkin line back onto the ice and DeBrincat got a great chance off the rush, but the rebound went to LA’s sticks, and Gustafsson and Petry parried the Kings’ first chance, but their second was stopped by Talbot.

Shot #29 against in 38:00 of elapsed play.

Seider pinched himself on the next play, and I don’t mean that he pinched himself. He worked with Chiarot to push the puck to Copp and Compher, but LA broke free, and 5 players skated into Detroit’s zone, with Seider having to flip the puck down into LA territory to relieve pressure.

Detroit lost the next offensive zone draw, LA pushed the puck into Detroit’s zone and Gustafsson blasted a puck wide of Rittich and onto Kings defenders’ sticks.

They cycled into Detroit territory, Foegle, Lewis and company could not stop the Wings from at least clearing their zone, but Detroit had to do it twice before Kasper worked with DeBrincat and Kane to defend Laferiere, Byfield and company, who were stopped.

The 2nd period ended.

In the 3rd period, Los Angeles won the opening faceoff, but iced the puck, so Larkin and company got an offensive zone draw that Larkin won, but DeBrincat was blocked, Adrian Kempe skated the other way and made it 3-0 Los Angeles on the brekaway, splitting Seider and Chiarot.

Kempe scored from Foegle and Gavrikov at 15 seconds of the 3rd period. 3-0 Los Angeles.

Detroit iced the Kasper line for the bump-up shift, and they fumbled around until Kasper chipped, Kane chased, Kasper bumped, and LA ground, skating into Detroit’s zone and cycling down low vs. Petry and Gustafsson, LA held the zone, Detroit was at least able to change 1:30 into the 3rd, and the Compher line came out…

Berggren made a good steal and cycled around the net, he fed Johansson, who fanned on the shot, and LA charged into Detroit’s zone, Edmundson sent a shot in on Talbot, and he juggled it, but sealed the ice.

Veleno, Fischer and Motte at least cleared Detroit’s defensive zone, and Motte made a good steal at the Kings’ blueline, reversed it to Petry, and he gorfled things up.

Up the Wings came again, and LA parried their rush, once, twice, affording LA the time to change lines, and Kopitar and company came into the Wings’ end once, twice, Larkin, Raymond and Seider and Chiarot struggled, and Kempe fired a shot high and wide of Talbot, Foegle pushed it back to the point, Seider was blocked off, Larkin fed DeBrincat, and Anderson blocked Larkin.

Larkin fired a shot at the net, it was blocked, Detroit held the blueline, Larkin and Raymond cycled, and the Kings pushed Detroit back.

Seider flipped a shot in on Rittich that was played up the ice, Moore fed Spence for a shot stopped by Talbot, and then Talbot stopped a rebound off the back boards.

Kempe and company nearly scored before Berggren, Copp and Compher cycled deep, fed the line, and Johansson was stopped by Rittich on shot #12 for Detroit.

LA’s Danault, Fiala, Edmundson and company actually generated a penalty. But it was to Detroit as Compher got called for slashing at 5:00 of the 3rd.

Detroit lost the d-zone draw, Fiala and Byfield were blocked off by Seider, LA regrouped at center, Kopitar flipped it back to Lafreniere, LA worked the perimeter and blueline, and Talbot stopped Kempe.

Fischer, Motte, Seider and Chiarot did their best to stop Byfield from back-dooring it…

Detroit changed 1:10 into the PK, and LA broke out of their zone, Danault and Spence cycled, Copp and Veleno worked vs. Holl and Petry, Detroit battled hard in their own end, and Spence fed Danault for a tap-in for Moore, but he was stifled;

Spence was blocked by Talbot, and Detroit at least killed the penalty with 13:00 left.

The Kings kept cycling vs. the tired Wings, and Talbot had to glove the puck down with 12:41 remaining.

When play resumed, Talbot stopped another shot and Johansson was whacked up high by Helenius, again, without a penalty.

Kasper won the next draw, Detroit pushed into the offensive zone and Tarasenko was stopped by Rittich, Detroit cycled, and Kane held the line, Johansson’s shot was blocked in front of Rittich, and LA broke out, with Helenius sending the puck deep, and Gustafsson and Johansson cleared their zone and worked to center as Detroit changed.

Seider and Chiarot exchanged puck as Raymond worked the puck to Seider, DeBrincat fed Raymond and Rittich stopped a screened shot…

Detroit could not hold the offensive line, Byfield and Gavrikov cycled, Seider and Larkin cleared the zone and Rayond flipped a hard shot on Rittich before exiting the ice;

With 10:30 remaining, LA pushed the puck to center and Berggren got the puck to Copp, Berggren was hit from behind, and LA regrouped, Moore and Danault cycled with Fiala, but Johansson and Holl cleared their zone, Compher got tied up in the offensive zone, again, no call there, and LA pushed the puck into Detroit’s zone at 10:15.

Motte broke in and put a shot off Rittich’s stick with 9:29 left in the 3rd, and there was another TV timeout.

When play resumed, Detroit battled the puck deep, Kasper centered the puck, and Rittich gobbled up the centering pass.

The Wings then went offside and changed lines with 9:01 remaining, and DeBrincat had to try to win a faceoff–which he did–Seider jammed the puck deep, LA broke out but Seider held the line, and Chiarot helped Seider until the Kings iced the puck with 8:39 left.

Larkin then lost the offensive zone draw and chipped the puck to center, Larkin gave and went with Raymond, and DeBrincat could not convert…

Holl fell in the offensive zone, Gavrikov fed Moore, and Talbot stopped a 3-on-2.

Copp won the defensive zone faceoff, but LA pushed the Wings back, and Detroit iced the puck with 7:55 remaining.

Off the next draw, Detroit’s Petry pushed the puck deep, but the Wings went offside and changed.

Kasper’s unit took to the ice, lost an offensive blueline draw, and Detroit unsuccessfully broke out once, successfully broke out the second time, and Seider blocked Byfield, and Kasper, Kane and Tarasenko went offside at the LA line.

Detroit then tried to work the puck up once, twice and Motte fired a puck wide, Gustafsson held the line, cycled and shot a puck that was blocked wisely by LA.

Moverare chipped the puck into Detroit’s end as the Larkin line hit the ice, and with 5:49 left in the game, the TV timeout hit one more time.

Detroit won their blueline draw and Seider chipped the puck in deep, but his shot was blocked by Kopitar right out of play.

DeBrincat was taking the right-side faceoffs as Larkin was struggling big time with draws, and when DeBrincat got tossed, Larkin came in and won the draw to Raymond.

Detroit tried to cycle, but the Kings saw it coming and cleared the puck down ice, where Larkin and DeBrincat walked up to Raymond, Raymond was dumped, Larkin fed DeBrincat and the pass was out of DeBrincat’s reach.

Showing some life and some spark, Detroit defended the Kings’ push with 5:00 left in regulation time, and as LA changed, Talbot made a good stop on a 38th shot against…

Larkin blasted a shot in for Rittich, but the puck was tipped out of play again.

Kasper won his faceoff at the offensive blueline’s right side, Holl pinched to help hold the zone, but LA broke out again, and Talbot stopped a 39th shot with 4:02 remaining.

Tarasenko put a puck off Kane’s feet, Detroit tried to cycle as Kasper blocked a clearing attempt, and the Wings changed lines with 3:30 left in the 3rd.

Detroit chipped and chased, Motte, Fischer and Veleno worked the puck back to Petry, and he was blocked off and LA cleared their zone.

Detroit regrouped, but Byfield and the Kings pushed the puck to center, recoiled into their own zone, and pushed the puck away.

Seider and Chairot saw Talbot leave the goal for the bench with 2:20 remaining, and LA fired the puck wide of an empty net with 2:13 remaining, affording Detroit an offensive zone draw.

Larkin won the draw to Kane, Raymond shot a shot on Rittich, Larkin was dumped, LA broke out, Kane blocked Danault wide, DeBrincat cycled with Seider, and Detroit worked the puck deep, DeBrincat and Kane worked Seider to Raymond, he was blocked, Larkin backhanded a shot in and scored.

Dylan Larkin backhanded a goal past Rittich at 18:33 from Rittich.

The Compher line came out to relieve the Wings’ top line, and Talbot exited with 1:09 left, Kopitar sent a shot down the ice wide of the goal and Detroit had 59.5 left with which to tie the game.

Sadly, Larkin lost the draw, DeBrincat passed to a King, and Kempe top-shelfed the 4-1 goal with 48.1 left in regulation time.

Adrian Kempe scored from Kopitar and Lewis at 19:11, empty-net. 4-1 LA.

Detroit tried to battle the puck deep again, but Talbot stopped a 40th shot and the Kings’ 41t as Lafreniere fired a shot onto Talbot’s blocker.

Detroit lost the next draw, LA went D to D and Talbot had to bat away a puck rolling off the end boards, Lafreniere sent the puck wide, and Johansson sent the puck down ice to end the game.

Los Angeles won 4-1.

Statistics: Here are the Game Summary and Event Summary:

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George Malik

My name is George Malik, and I'm the Malik Report's editor/blogger/poster. I have been blogging about the Red Wings since 2006, and have worked with MLive and Kukla's Korner. Thank you for reading!

3 thoughts on “Red Wings-Kings quick take: Dang.”

  1. Johansson had a nightmare game. the other D vets…same old. during these two SoCal games they’ve just looked…awful.

    Berggren, i think, is better than his counting stats as others have pointed out. he’s one of the few wings who can actually transport the puck up ice basically on his own, which is a sentence i never thought i’d write about him.

    overall, just…if this was a home game, i think they’d have been booed off the ice after all 3 periods.

  2. I’m officially done with Lalonde. The final straw was Larkin calling for a timeout after scoring and getting shut down. The arrogance of someone who has accomplished nothing as a head coach is just incredible.

    We all know this team has flaws especially defensively, but they just look like they don’t care at times. At one point LA had 18 shots on goal to the Wings 5. To come out this flat after what happened the previous game is unacceptable.

  3. The boys didn’t look like they were ready to play, and then had no fight when the battle started. Piss poor effort.

    Who’s to blame when the entire team looks like they are without heart?

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