LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Luc Robitaille was in no mood to celebrate after his latest milestone was overshadowed by a couple of his former Detroit Red Wings teammates.
Jason Williams scored the tying and go-ahead goals less than
four minutes apart early in the second period and Steve Yzerman
had three assists for his first three-point game of the season as
the Red Wings beat Robitaille and the Los Angeles Kings 4-2
Saturday night.
Robitaille assisted on a power-play goal in the first period and
scored on another power play with 2:51 remaining for his 1,369th
career point, tying Johnny Bucyk for the most by a left wing in NHL
history.
"It's certainly something that I'll think about when my career
is over. But right now, it's all about the team," Robitaille said.
"It's fun to get those when you win -- and in 10 or 20 years, it'll
mean something. But right now, I don't really care. No disrespect
to Mr. Bucyk, because I was a big fan of his, but what's important
right now are wins."
Alexander Frolov scored a power-play goal for the Kings, whose
third straight defeat matched their longest losing streak this
season. They trail St. Louis by two points for the eighth and final
Western Conference playoff spot and Nashville by three for seventh
place.
"The last three games, we literally beat ourselves with little
mistakes," Robitaille said. "When you get into these kind of
games with the playoff mentality, every little play counts. And
tonight we made three too many mistakes and they ended up in our
net. It's a disappointing loss."
Ray Whitney scored for Detroit, Nicklas Lidstrom had an
empty-net goal and Curtis Joseph had 23 saves for the Red Wings, who took sole possession of the NHL's best record with 99 points -- two more than Tampa Bay. Detroit also completed a four-game season sweep of the Kings despite the absence of Derian Hatcher, Robert Lang, Mathieu Dandenault, Jason Woolley and Kris Draper.
"I loved the last few minutes because it had all the intensity
you see in the playoffs," Detroit coach Dave Lewis said. "We were
playing a desperate team, and it was good for us because these are
the kinds of games we're going to have in the playoffs."
The Red Wings recorded just four shots on net in the first period, but two others hit iron. Jiri Fischer took a slap shot from the red line that beat Cristobal Huet to the glove side and hit the right post less than 1½ minutes after the opening faceoff. Henrik Zetterberg hit the crossbar on a breakaway just 21 seconds before intermission.
Huet's luck changed considerably in the second period as Detroit
scored a couple of cheapies against him to grab a 2-1 lead.
"We had a lot of opportunities," Yzerman said. "We got the
puck with speed in the neutral zone a few times and got pressure in
their end."
Williams tied it 1½ minutes into the second, getting the puck
behind the net from Yzerman and stuffing his fifth goal under
Huet's legs. The tandem collaborated again at the 5:14 mark, as
Williams' wrist shot from the right circle caromed off Kings center
Esa Pirnes and fluttered over Huet's left shoulder.
"We got some pressure down low on their defense, and that is
what we wanted to do. We wanted to get behind their defense and
work," Williams said.
Whitney converted his own rebound at 17:06 of the second for a
3-1 lead. Robitaille scored from the right of the net to make it a
one-goal game, but the rally fell short.
Frolov opened the scoring at 4:25 of the first against a
penalty-killing unit that entered with a league-best percentage of
87.3 -- and had allowed just one goal in 50 short-handed situations
over its previous 13 games.
Robitaille already holds the record for goals by a player at
that position with 653, and most points in one season by a left
wing with 125 in 1992-93 -- the only season the Kings made it
to the Stanley Cup finals. His 244 power-play goals are fourth on
the career list behind Dave Andreychuk, Brett Hull and Phil Esposito.
Robitaille is in his third stint with the Kings, who picked him
171st overall in the 1984 draft. The eight-time All-Star, who
turned 38 last month, returned to the club in July after two
seasons in Detroit.
Game notes
This was the first time Detroit swept Los Angeles in a
season series since 1969-70 -- when they went 6-0 in Gordie Howe's
next-to-last season with the Red Wings. ... Yzerman's three assists
increased his career total to 1,040, tying former Kings and Red
Wings center Marcel Dionne for eighth place on the NHL list. ...
The Red Wings are one point away from their fifth straight
100-point season. ... The Red Wings are 11-2-3 in their last 16
games and have allowed more than two goals only twice during that
stretch. Joseph has allowed no more than two goals in any of his
last six starts after giving up four goals in consecutive outings
Jan. 22-24.