Game 7: Red Wings 5, Kings 2

The second Original Six team is as many of days has the Kings flying into Hockeytown to play the Red Wings. After giving Jonny (Don't Call Me Jonathon) Quick a game off, Terry Murray has his hot goaltender between the pipes to face off against their conference rival.

The result left much to be desired. The Red Wings were without Pavel Datsyuk and Johan Franzen, and the mid-week game at Joe Louis was empty. Yet, the Kings found ways to beat themselves. First of all, they failed to tally a power play goal in the game, the first time that's happened this season. They also let the Wings outshoot them, especially in the third period, when they should've been pushing more.

Quick looked shaky, especially when he knocked a puck into the goal in the net off of a faceoff. That sort of set the tone the rest of the night.

Dustin Brown finally tallied his first goal of the season. I'm not entirely sure whether he likes playing on the team's stopper line, but DB doesn't strike me as a player to complain. They do need more scoring from their captain, and it will be interesting to see how he responds to his drop in minutes. Other than that, not much exciting to report from the Kings point of view.

However, Nicklas Lidstrom earned the 1,000th point of his career, becoming the first European defenseman to do so.

• AP: Lidstrom reaches 1,000 points in Wings' win

    “They capitalized on a their power-play and a couple of costly mistakes,” Jonathon Quick said. “You play a team like that, you’ve got to limit your mistakes.”

• DetNews.com: Wings bounce back with win, Lidstrom milestone

    Osgood, 10-2 against the Kings the last five seasons, took it from there. The Kings kept relentless pressure for nearly six minutes but couldn't get it past Osgood. He stopped a hard shot from a driving Ryan Smyth, and then got himself back in position to stop the rebound shot by Anze Kopitar.

• Freep.com: Recap: Wings 5, Kings 2

There were swathes of empty rows in the stands, and attendance was announced at 17,782 (capacity is 20,066).

• Yahoo!: Team report

    The Kings looked like world-beaters in the first period as they took a 1-0 lead over Detroit, but things went sour quickly in the second period. The Kings took four minor penalties, fell into a 2-1 hole and never recovered. The Kings pulled within 3-2 in the third period but also were outshot 15-7 by the Red Wings in the final 20 minutes.

• LAKings.com: Red Wings beat Kings 5-2

    Since the NHL lockout ended in 2005, the Kings have a 2-12-3 record against the Red Wings, and are now 1-7-1 against Detroit since the start of the 2007-08 season.

They said it

    “It definitely looked like we were a team that was playing its third game in four nights. Eventually it wears on you, but I thought that without some of the penalties, we were right there." – Rob Scuderi, Kings defenseman (courtesy Rich Hammond)

Around the Kingdom

• The Royal Half: Un-Developing

    How does a rational Kings fan react to these back to back losses? Do you panic that the 4-1 start was a compete fluke? Do you rejoice in the fact that the Kings have dominated most of the past 2 games but just have run into some great saves by experienced goalies?

• Matthew Berry: Kings Stink in Detroit... Again 5-2

    The Kings passes were sloppy, the breakouts were sloppy, the important faceoffs stunk, the power play was atrocious and the once 4-1 Kings have come back to Kings reality with their 2nd straight road loss in as many nights

•  Caligiuri's Corner: Blue Collar Bob

(Ed. note: Another great post by Kings assistant athletic trainer Joe Caligiuri)
    Being inside an NHL facility in America doesn’t feel like the secret society of the NFL – but that’s OK. Life between our walls isn’t a society; it’s a family, not a business nor a factory.

• LetsGoKings.com GDT:  Los Angeles Kings @ Detroit Red Wings

• HFBoards.com: GDT: Los Angeles Kings @ Detroit Red Wings

    Stoneface Vimes: I really think our guys have outplayed Detroit for the most part. Osgood made a couple huge stops, and the refs have profoundly boned us a couple times. This one is leaving a real bad tatse in my mouth.
    Ziggy Palffy33: This game feels like a flashback from last year. No intensity or anything
    Doughty Number 8: Can't blame Terry Murray for lackluster powerplay. Those combinations did work, it's just a matter of the players executing

From across the aisle, the Detroit viewpoint

• NIghtmare on Helm Street: Kick 'em when they're down

So who got kicked? Who's down? Oh whoops, two game losing streak foryou, LA. Hope you enjoy your Pacific Division lead...it probably won'tlast the month. But look on the bright side: Sharks lost last night tothe Washington Ovechkins...but Dany Heatley will still score 70 goalsthis year.

• Triple Deke: Game #6 -- Red Wings vs. Kings

• Winging It In Motown: Wings beat Kings, 5-2

• HFBoards: GDT: Los Angeles Kings @ Detroit Red Wings

    YaAnotherWingsFaN: I never realized how big Kopitar was.. he's a very good player and only gonna get better. Free Agent next year, hopefully L.A. doesn't re-up him.. would look real nice in a Wings jersey.
    GuloGulo: Cmon Kings were gassed. They outskated the Wings in period one, but lost their sharpness after that. That's why the penalties happened too.
    Heaton: Anze Kopitar is a favorite of mine, but I liked how after he slashed Filppula in the faceoff circle and Fil slashed back Kronner lined up Kopitar along the boards and nailed him.

Peeping the dailies