In Detroit, the visiting Los Angeles Kings shook off the Red Wings in the third period on Wednesday and for a 5-3 win.
“This was just a heck of an effort tonight,” Kings head coach Todd McLellan said. “Our guys decided this was an important game and we played all 60 minutes like it was.”
Phillip Danault hit for a double for LA.
“This is huge, especially going into the [All-Star] break,” Danault said. “We wanted to finish on the right note, and I thought we were awesome again tonight.”
Jonathan Quick made 22 saves in the LA win.
Michael Rasmussen opened the scoring when he gave Detroit a 1-0 lead in the first period.
The Kings moved to 24-16-7.
Tyler Bertuzzi‘s third period goal tied the game at 2-2.
“I didn’t think our battle level was nearly good enough tonight,” Red Wings head coach Jeff Blashill said. “Our battle and compete levels have been really good for most of the year, but they worked harder than we did tonight.”
LA responded with Danault’s second goal of the game, and a strike from Viktor Arvidsson for a 4-2 lead.
Detroit fell to 20-21-6.
Arthur Kaliyev also scored for the Kings.
Detroit’s Joe Veleno got the Red Wings back within one at 4-3, with 47 seconds left in the the game.
Adrian Kempe iced the win for LA with an empty-net strike with 10 seconds left on the clock.
Alex Nedeljkovic made 40 saves in the Wings loss.
“[Nedeljkovic] was the only reason we even had a chance to win this game,” the Red Wings’ Marc Staal said. “He played an exceptional game just to keep us close.”
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