Sometimes getting away from home is all you need.
On Tuesday night, the Los Angeles Kings made a stop in Detroit and defeated the Red Wings, 4-1.
Anze Kopitar found the back of the net twice and had three points in the win.
LA improved to 14-8-3 with the win.
Jonathan Quick finally had a solid game as he made 23 saves to pick up the win and break out of a nasty stretch of poor performances and lackluster support in front of him.
“We’re trying to find ways to win hockey games right now, and we got a big effort from our entire team,” LA head coach John Stevens said. “We’ve still got a long way to go to get where we want to be, but this was a good win.”
Dustin Brown and Adrian Kempe also struck for LA goals.
“Our goalie was really good in some crucial situations and that calmed us down,” Stevens said. “We had the huge finish to the second and then played really well in the third.”
Mike Green scored the lone Wings goal in the loss in the first period; a lead they held until the middle frame.
Green’s goal gave the Wings a 1-0 lead that they nearly increased to 2-0 but Quick was able to stop Dylan Larkin down low.
“That was huge, because we were losing 1-0 and we had nothing going on,” Kopitar said. “We gave them a great chance on our power play, but [Quick] makes that save and a couple more big ones, and we were able to come back.”
The Kings responded with two goals before the end of the second period for 2-1 lead and control of the game.
“This is obviously not good enough,” Detroit’s Gustav Nyquist said. “We’ve done a good job on the road, but we came home for a long stretch and haven’t taken care of business.”
Kempe scored his goal with less than a minute gone in the third period for a 3-1 lead and the Wings were unable to respond to that strike.
“That sucked the life out of us,” Detroit head coach Jeff Blashill said. “We turned the puck over twice and it ended up in our net.”
[WATCH:Â All Kings vs. Red Wings highlights]
Jimmy Howard made 32 saves in the loss as the Red Wings dropped to 10-10-5.
“This is frustrating, and we have to figure it out,” Howard said. “It seems like we play a simpler game on the road. That’s my perspective.”
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