Kings Open Door, Red Wings Slam It

Too fast. Too skilled. Above all, too opportunistic.

The Detroit Red Wings had a little too much of everything against the Kings, cranking up the league’s top-scoring offense and turning in a 5-4 victory in front of a sellout crowd of 18,118 Thursday at Staples Center.

The Red Wings trailed after one period, but took a 4-2 lead on a costly third-period King turnover and held on against a King team that had its moments.

Detroit defenseman Mathieu Schneider, a King until a trade last March, scored twice and the Kings fell to 1-8-3-1 against the current top five teams in the Western Conference, still hanging on to the eighth playoff spot in the West but failing to inspire a high degree of confidence against upper-echelon teams.

The Kings were plenty generous, aiding the Red Wings on almost all of their goals.

“I think we put four pucks on their sticks for goals,” King Coach Andy Murray said. “You can play as hard as you want, you also have to play smart. You score four goals in your own building against the Detroit Red Wings, you need to find a way to win the game.”

The Red Wings, for all their success, hadn’t won at Staples Center since February 2000, stuck in an 0-7-1slide that included an 0-3 mark in the first round of the 2001 playoffs.

The streak appeared to be over when Jamie Rivers intercepted a soft pass in the King zone and drove the puck past Roman Cechmanek 3:55 into the third period for a 4-2 lead.

The errant pass came from King defenseman Mattias Norstrom, selected to the Western Conference All-Star team earlier in the day. Rivers scored only his 18th goal in 358 career games.

The Kings’ effort was filled with other errors Thursday, the Red Wings glad to oblige. The Kings easily could have been credited with assists on Detroit’s first, third, fourth and fifth goals.

“You can’t afford to do that against a team like that,” King left wing Luc Robitaille said. “They’re very patient and they’ve got the skills. When they get their chances, they don’t miss.”

King right wing Alexander Frolov, heir apparent to the offensive void created by Ziggy Palffy’s season-ending shoulder injury, scored twice, including a back-hander that beat Curtis Joseph with 1:17 left to pull the Kings within 5-4.

But Frolov couldn’t convert a backhander that hit the outside of the post with about 20 seconds left.

The Kings had some positive signs, including a 2-1 lead after one period, but Detroit fired off the first 10 shots of the second period and scored twice.

With Jaroslav Modry in the penalty box for hooking, Nicklas Lidstrom’s wrist shot from inside the blue line was redirected by Brett Hull in front of the net at 3:47.

At 5:18, Schneider was alone near the right boards after Mathieu Dandenault’s shot caromed around. Schneider walked in unchecked and snapped a shot from the right circle past Cechmanek for a 3-2 lead.

The Kings answered Rivers’ goal with Robitaille’s power-play goal at 6:15 of the third period that pulled the Kings within 4-3. But Schneider’s breakaway goal at 13:52 reestablished a two-goal edge.

“It’s not the kind of hockey we want to play, especially on the road where we’re desperate for points,” said Schneider, who spent parts of three seasons with the Kings before being dealt for Sean Avery, Maxim Kuznetsov and two draft picks at last season’s trade deadline.

“There’s a different pressure than I experienced here. Pressure to stay on top, pressure to have home-ice advantage. It’s one of the things when I got traded last year that caught my attention, the pressure to stay on top.”

Trent Klatt’s power-play goal and Frolov’s first goal gave the Kings a 2-1 lead after one.

“You can’t give teams like that easier goals,” Klatt said. “We have practice [today] and we’ll try to keep this thing going.”