On the road in the East on Tuesday (Jan. 27), the Los Angeles Kings (22-16-13) had one of the team's best and most complete impressive wins of this regular season in the West vs. the Detroit Red Wings (32-17-5) at Little Caesars Arena in regulation. Jim Hiller and the Kings avenged a tough and controversial shootout loss on home ice at Crypto.com Arena a few months ago to change their fortunes in the West yesterday.
Andrei Kuzmenko and Anton Forsberg should've both been stars of the game yesterday for the Los Angeles Kings in a regulation win vs. Detroit in the East
The game started slowly for both teams on the ice and on the scoreboard yesterday. The Kings got early scoring opportunities in the opening frame in the first period yesterday vs. Detroit, but couldn't cash in until the middle frame in the second period.
The Kings built a 2-0 lead on the scoreboard in the game's second period yesterday in the middle frame, and in the third period vs. the Red Wings before clutch time in the third period. LA got goals in the middle frame in the second period and in the final frame early from Sammy Helenius and winger Andrei Kuzmenko. Down the stretch in the final frame in the third period, the Kings played well defensively and avoided making too many untimely mistakes in the zone on their side of the ice.
Corey Perry sealed the win in the standings for two points in the Pacific Division yesterday with a nice full-ice empty-net goal that extended the Kings' lead on the scoreboard to 3-1 late in the final frame in the third period.
This is the third straight win for the Kings in the West this regular season, and the sixth straight game where Hiller and LA got at least a point in the standings in the Pacific Division.
Here are two studs and one dud from the Kings impressive 3-1 regulation win over the Red Wings on the road in Detroit in the East on this long road trip early this week on Jan. 27 at Little Caesars Arena.
Stud: Andrei Kuzmenko, W
The power play came through on special teams in a big way yesterday on the road vs. Detroit for Hiller and the Kings. Kuzmenko scored a tic-tac-goal for the Kings on special teams on the power play on the 5-on-4 man advantage yesterday vs. Detroit.
Led by multiple scoring chances each from Kuzmenko and young defenseman Brandt Clarke, the Kings out-chanced and outshot the Red Wings on the road in Detroit yesterday in the game's first two periods on the stat sheet against one of the best teams from the East.
"We entered pretty well. We had some time and space, we were more direct with the puck on the power play, and then we haven’t had a lot of those this year, where you’re looking at it, and you’re saying that’s a high level of execution on Kuzy’s goal. We needed it. Really, really good to see. That was probably the most important goal of the game."Jim Hiller on Andrei Kuzmenko
Kuzmenko's goal on special teams on the power play ended up also being the game-winning goal for the Kings yesterday in the final frame in the third period. He's scored a couple of game-winning goals in this past three games in the West for the Kings during this big three-game winning streak on the road.