Red Wings-Kings Tweetcap: Squandered opportunity against LA yields a 3-1 Detroit loss

The Detroit Red Wings began their final 5 games before the Olympic Break–and, hopefully, the only 5 games without Simon Edvinsson in the lineup–with a home tilt against the big, heavy and mean Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday night.

On Tuesday at Little Caesars Arena, the Red Wings were placed in a sleeper hold by the Los Angeles Kings, and they could not recover. Los Angeles would win 3-1…

And Detroit not only blew a great opportunity to earn 2 points, but they also blew a fine 19-save performance by John Gibson, who stood on his head at times just to keep the Wings in the game.

Yes, Alex DeBrincat’s lone 6-on-5 marker afforded Patrick Kane an assist that ties Mike Modano for the U.S. all-time scoring lead, but this game was egg on the Wings’ faces, and two points that they squandered because LA played like every team is going to play against Detroit for the remainder of the season–hard, defensively-smothering, and sleepy enough to lull the Wings to take naps in their own defensive zone.

PREGAME: John Gibson and Anton Forsberg led their respective teams out onto the ice at LCA:

The Kings only post their starters, technically speaking….

But their Public Relations department posts both teams’ lines…

And here’s the Red Wings’ lineup…

1ST PERIOD:

The teams dressed the following starters and lineups:

PENALTY: Albert Johansson mugged a LA Kings forward halfway along the side boards and got tagged for holding at 9:08 of the 1st period.

PENALTY: Detroit’s captain, Dylan Larkin, was called for slashing at 11:09.

Detroit had killed the Johansson penalty, so this was another 5-on-4 PP for LA.

PENALTY: At 13:04, just 6 seconds before the Kings’ PP would end, Quinton Byfield got tagged for tripping Moritz Seider while Mo was about to spring Finnie and Rasmussen on a shorthanded 2-on-0.

Regrettably, the Red Wings looked exactly like a team that was coming back from a 3-games-in-4-nights-in-3-cities Midwestern road trip, playing sloppy, sleepy hockey after a dominant first shift.

2ND PERIOD:

Again, Detroit looked unfocused and sloppy over the course of the first 5 or so minutes of play, and LA was out-shooting Detroit all of 1-0…

GOAL: But Los Angeles’ fourth line of Mallott, Ward and Helenius struck first, with the Kings forechecking the puck down low in the Wings’ right-hand corner, and Jeff Mallott chucked the puck out into the slot as the Wings’ players bunched up against the side boards.

Samuel Helenius would rip a shot through both Albert Johansson and John Gibson to make it 1-0 LA at exactly 10:00 of the 2nd.

Los Angeles 1, Detroit 0: Helenius (2) from Mallott (4) at 10:00 2nd period.

PENALTY: Andrei Kuzmenko got caught hooking Ben Chiarot at 18:21 of the 2nd period.

3RD PERIOD:

PENALTY: Detroit picked up the pace considerably early in the 3rd, but at 5:53, Jacob Bernard-Docker got a slashing call for hacking Byfield.

GOAL: On the power play, Kevin Fiala and Adrian Kempe worked the puck down low and pumped it to Andrei Kuzmenko in the slot. Kuzmenko made no mistake and blasted the puck through Gibson at 6:46 of the 3rd.

Los Angeles 2, Detroit 0: Kuzmenko (11) from Kempe (23) and Fiala (19) at 6:46 3rd, PPG.

PENALTY: Drew Doughty held up Lucas Raymond and sat at 7:29.

GOALIE PULL: Gibson goes with 3:33 left 3rd.

GOAL: With 2:15 left in the 3rd period/17:45 elapsed, Alex DeBrincat jabbed home a fine lateral pass from Patrick Kane off a back-boards-rim-around and DeBrincat flittered the shot through Forsberg to make it 2-1.

Los Angeles 2, Detroit 1: DeBrincat (28) from Seider (29) and Kane (23) at 17:45 3rd period.

TIMEOUT DETROIT: Called at 18:46 of the 3rd period.

GOAL: Corey Perry took a faceoff win by the Wings and ripped it full-ice to score the 3-1 marker at 18:47, empty net.

Los Angeles 3, Detroit 1: Perry (11) unassisted, empty net, at 18:47.

PENALTY: Mason Appleton’s stick was slashed out of his hands by Adrian Kempe with 6.4 left in the 3rd period.

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!