Tatar, Green and Larkin lift Red Wings over Kings
DETROIT (AP) - Dylan Larkin scored his third goal in as many games Friday night and also gave his teammates a scare in the third period of the Detroit Red Wings' 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings.
Early in the period, the promising rookie appeared to hit a rut, causing his right knee to buckle under him. He coasted all the way to the end boards while bent over, then slowly made his way back to the Red Wings bench and went back to the locker room.
"It looked bad," Tomas Tatar said.
Larkin, though, returned to the bench midway through the period and was able to take regular shifts with Henrik Zetterberg and Justin Abdelkader for the final 9 minutes.
"I didn't get a good look at what he did, but I know he had some kind of lower-body issue," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "I haven't talked to him, but he finished the game, so I don't expect it was anything serious."
Mike Green and Larkin put Detroit ahead with second-period goals and Petr Mrazek made 35 saves for Detroit.
"Petr was huge for us tonight," Zetterberg said. "He made a lot of saves that kept us in the game."
Tatar also scored for the Red Wings, while Abdelkader and Zetterberg each had two assists.
Jeff Carter scored twice and the Kings dropped to 5-2 on the road. Jhonas Enroth made 26 saves.
"When you give up three goals in this league, you've got to score four," Kings coach Darryl Sutter said. "We had plenty of chances, but we didn't put them away. That's more opportunities than you will usually get."
The Red Wings nearly took the lead in the first minute, but Enroth made a glove save to rob Gustav Nyquist at point-blank range. Instead, it took over 14 minutes before Tatar knocked Abdelkader's pass into a wide-open net for a power-play goal, his sixth of the season.
"We knew we needed to attack the net and create some chances," Tatar said. "That's the only way we've been getting anything to go in."
The Kings nearly tied the game seconds later when Tyler Toffoli beat Mrazek, only to see his shot hit the post and bounce away.
The Red Wings had a chance to increase their lead 2 minutes later when Drew Doughty took a tripping penalty, but a turnover led to Carter scoring on a breakaway to tie the game.
Both teams had power-play chances early in the second, but the teams were at even strength when Green kicked a rebound onto his stick and fired it between Enroth's legs for a 2-1 lead at 3:45. It was Green's first goal with the Red Wings.
Just over 2 minutes later, Enroth gave up another bad rebound, this one off Abdelkader's shot, and Larkin tapped it home for his seventh goal. Carter, though, scored his second goal of the night to make it 3-2 midway through the period.
"Petr gave up a bad goal there, but the impressive thing about him is that he has no memory," Blashill said. "He just keeps playing like nothing happened. That's something a goalie needs."
Doughty hit the post with 5 minutes left in the second, and the game remained 3-2 going into the third.
Mrazek made a pair of quick saves from Trevor Lewis and Jordan Nolan with 6:35 left, preserving the lead. Milan Lucic missed a tip-in with 20 seconds left, and the Red Wings blocked three shots in the final 10 seconds.
"That was a tough finish," Mrazek said. "I got in front of a couple shots and I don't even know how many our guys blocked. There had to be three or four, but they had so many guys in front that I couldn't see anything."
Mrazek's strong third period impressed the Kings.
"We threw a lot of rubber at him," Anze Kopitar said. "He just played a great game."
NOTES: Detroit F Brad Richards returned after missing 13 games with a back injury, while Red Wings D Brendan Smith returned after missing five games with an illness. ... The Kings were playing the second of a five-game trip, which began with a 3-2 shootout win against Philadelphia on Tuesday night. ... Red Wings D Danny DeKeyser missed part of the third period after suffering facial cuts from a deflected puck.