Detroit suffered a tough defeat at the hands of Jack Campbell and the Los Angeles Kings Sunday night. The Red Wings threw everything put the kitchen sink at the LA netminder who stopped 36 to give the Kings a 4-2 win in regulation at Staples Center. The Michigan native earned an important first career win against the Red Wings who were denied another chance at winning a game.
The Red Wings come out west in an early battle where they need a win to get on the board of the new NHL season. While they managed to get a point against the Columbus Blue Jackets in Detroit, a win remains missing in their push to make a better season for the Franchise. Detroit’s rookies made good impressions but had troubles at times with gaining puck possession. It would be a difficult time for them to do that with the Kings also coming off an overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks. With both looking to avoid back to back losses, only one would be able to do so.
The Kings got their first power play 1:33 into the game with Tyler Bertuzzi hitting Dion Phaneuf with the stick. It was ruled to be a double minor with the Red Wings PK needing a big kill. Los Angeles got three shots on goal during the first half but nothing that Bernier had to deal with. It gave him time to rest while Detroit went after Campbell who had to come in for Jonathan Quick who suffered an injury during practice Saturday. While they didn’t get more shots while shorthanded, the penalty kill was all but squashed allowing little time for puck possession for their opponent’s.
Their strategy worked out but as the game went on, Detroit suffered a loss to their defense with Trevor Daley taking a spill where he went into the knee of Jaret Anderson-Dolan. He remained with his head down before the Red Wings trainer helped him off the ice. Detroit tried to get one in for their fallen teammate with Gustav Nyquist almost getting a piece of the net with a lone shot. He tried again on a loose puck but Campbell and his support took care to bring play to an end.
It got them even with five shots apiece with half the period in the books and no scoring change. Andreas Athanasiou had a wide open shot but was cut off at the low end putting too much speed on the puck that negated the wide open chance. Campbell stopped another couple of scoring chances from Detroit. They would gain more on their first chance with the man advantage. Campbell continued to be Detroit’s biggest problem as he killed off a lot of shots including Athanasiou’s second chance.
Los Angeles had done all the right things to hand back the same result to their adversaries with five minutes on the clock. It remained a physical fight to score a goal before time ran out on the period. The Kings were racking up shots that nearly had them evened on shots to the net as Bernier was refusing to give his former team an inch. When the horn sounded to end 20, that was exactly what remained clear as Detroit had seven scoring chances and 12 shots to LA’s four and ten shots at Bernier.
The pace came into the second period with teams challenging one another for the game’s first goal. Prior to the five minute mark, it came to the Kings with Ilya Kovalchuk bringing in the play before passing it to Anze Kopitar who closed in on Bernier before flipping it top shelf for his second of the season. Kovalchuk earned his 400th career assist in the King’s first lead of the game which lit a fire under Detroit. After Jake Muzzin delivered a big hit to Bertuzzi, Nick Jensen went after the Kings defenseman nailing plenty of head shots that gave him the victory in the fight.
They found themselves with a power play shortly afterwards with Anthony Mantha scoring to even things up on a great drive that was deflected by Kopitar. The Kings almost got the lead back with newcomer Austin Wagner nearly getting it by Bernier on a quick play. The game calmed down just enough for Detroit to gain another push of offense where they fired away at Campbell but unable to get a second one in.
The Kings went on a power play but was suddenly cancelled out by a penalty that send the teams to 4 on 4. Detroit continued to have the upper hand but when they lost the puck to Tyler Toffoli, he sent it off to Paul LaDue who shot through Bernier on the low end giving them a 2-1 lead with less than four minutes in the period. The Kings gained the leverage they wanted as they were continuing to be outshot by the Red Wings. As the period came to a close, they were outdone 14-6 but made the change in scoring count going into the decider.
It was still a tough fight between the teams with scuffles continuing to show up on the ice. Bertuzzi and Phaneuf got into it again with LaDue going to the box as well with a fight near the Detroit bench with Filip Hronek also in the pen. With Detroit left with four defenseman, the challenge to hold off Los Angeles from scoring and getting even became more difficult.
A bad moment for Detroit’s netminder came halfway into the period where he waited for the puck to get within legal reach of possessing with Libor Sulak closing in on it as well. Communication didn’t work out between the two as the puck got out of their hands and into the Kings where Kovalchuk got control before finding Alex Iafallo in position to fire it in for his first of the season.
Los Angeles had the lead in hand but there was a more than 11 minutes left in regulation. They worked plenty of that time off limiting the number of shots that Detroit would have. By the five minute mark, the Red Wings got a power play but it didn’t do them well as Campbell remained a strong figure between the pipes for the Kings. A lucky break came for them with seconds left on the man advantage where Dylan Larkin took a scoring chance through traffic to earn his first with four minutes remaining.
The Kings knew the importance of keeping their lead alive and did so with a lot of push to throw the puck into the Detroit zone. The Red Wings got back one of their defenseman with two minutes on the clock taking a timeout in the process. They called Bernier out of the net for six men to run for Detroit as they looked to force overtime. Anthony Mantha almost had the shot that would save his team but ultimately put them away.
Los Angeles got hold of the puck during the final minute where a push from them gave them enough room to speed away with Iafallo scoring the empty netter for his second that gave them a much needed win at home to end the week. The Kings trailed from start to finish but had an edge on a leader who contributed along with their goaltender to go to .500 in their second game. While they prepare for a short road trip, the Red Wings would try to get their first win in Southern California facing the Anaheim Ducks on Monday.
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