A breakdown in Motor City
L.A. takes a 3-2 lead with 5:54 left but then falls to a second straight defeat.
Red Wings score twice in the final 4:02 to steal what would have been a big victory from Kings.
detroit — The Detroit Red Wings leaned on one of their only healthy stars to get a much-needed win.
Henrik Zetterberg scored twice and assisted on Valtteri Filppula’s tying goal with 4:02 left, then Darren Helm scored with 1:13 remaining to give the banged-up Red Wings a 4-3 victory over the Kings on Friday night.
“You’d like to produce when your big guys are out,” Zetterberg said.
Detroit had lost five of seven to slip behind Western Conference and Central Division-leading St. Louis.
The Red Wings were without injured All-stars Pavel Datsyuk and Jimmy Howard, seven-time Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom, forwards Todd Bertuzzi and Justin Abdelkader along with defensemen Jonathan Ericsson and Jakub Kindl.
“You have to give credit to the farm team,” Zetterberg said. “When we need them, they’re ready to play.”
With several called-up prospects from the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins, Detroit struggled until the final minutes.
It took the Red Wings about 10 minutes in each of the first periods to get a shot. They finished with just 15 shots for their lowest total since April 1, 2004, according to STATS LLC, in a 3-2 win over St. Louis.
Gustav Nyquist, playing in his sixth NHL game, had an assist on the winning goal that was scored by Helm in front of the net while engaged with Kings defenseman Drew Doughty. Brendan Smith, in his eighth game in the league, took Zetterberg’s pass and set up Filppula on the late tying goal.
“Coach [Mike] Babcock told us these are mustwins,” Smith said.
Losses loom even larger for Los Angeles, which has dropped two straight after winning four of five in a race for one of the final spots in the Western Conference playoffs.
“What we’ve got to do is not get down and look ahead,” said Kings right wing Justin Williams. “We’ve got 14 games left.”
The Kings had their chances, leading with 5:54 left when Dwight King put them ahead, 3-2, but couldn’t beat a short-handed team.