The Detroit Red Wings snapped a two-game losing skid and salvaged their California road trip with a 4-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings. Coming off a game in which he was pulled after allowing four early goals, goaltender Jimmy Howard stopped 23 of 24 shots faced. Los Angeles actually got on the board first, Mike Richards scored a shorthanded goal at 6:37 after teammate Justin Williams went to the box for tripping.
But from there, it was all Detroit, as Pavel Datsyuk scored less than a minute later on the power play, assisted by Tomas Holmstrom and Nicklas Lidstrom. In the second period, Detroit got the lead with another power play goal, Niklas Kronwall assisted by Holmstrom and Johan Franzen. With less than five minutes to go in the second, Justin Abdelkader increased their lead.
Datsyuk added his second goal of the night for insurance at 15:06 of the third period. Detroit dominated in almost every way, with more shots (38 to 24) and more faceoffs won (31 to 27). The win halts a two-game skid for Detroit that included losses to the Blues and Sharks, and puts them at 1-1 on their current trek through California. On Sunday, they'll take on the Anaheim Ducks to wrap it up.
With the loss, the Kings have their three-game winning streak snapped.