DETROIT — Phillip Danault scored his second goal of the game at 1:12 of overtime, and the Los Angeles Kings recovered for a 5-4 win against the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena on Monday.
Danault won it when he intended to pass Trevor Moore on a 2-on-1 deflected off the skate of Red Wings defenseman Filip Hronek.
“We still have a lot of work to do, but we’re getting better,” Danault said. “We know the last two games were unacceptable defensively (10 goals allowed), and tonight was a step in the right direction.”
Video: LAK@DET: Danault’s second goal gives Kings OT win
Danault’s winner came after Viktor Arvidsson had a chance to seal the game with the Kings leading 4-3 with 90 seconds left in the third period. Arvidsson was skating towards an empty net, but he hesitated before shooting, which allowed Red Wings forward Dylan Larkin to dive and knock the puck away from him.
“It was an amazing play,” Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde said. “He never gave up on it, and I just think that’s a good message for the team.”
Oskar Sundqvist then tied it 4-4 with 41 seconds remaining, sweeping the puck into the net from the left post.
“We have a lot of experienced players on this team, and they did a great job of calming everyone down for overtime,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said. “Everyone wanted to win it for [Arvidsson]but we can’t put ourselves in that situation very often.”
Video: LAK@DET: Sundqvist ties it late in 3rd period
Anze Kopitar and Adrian Kempe Each had a goal and an assist, Moore and Kevin Fiala each had two assists, and Jonathan Quick made 29 saves for the Kings (2-2-0), who have won two straight.
“I thought we looked more like the team we should be,” McLellan said. “We had some strange circumstances, but we had a good effort and got two points.”
David Perron had two goals and an assist, and Ville Husso made 31 saves for Detroit (2-0-1), which was played without Tyler Bertuzziwho is expected to miss 4-6 weeks with an upper-body injury, and Jakub Vrana (personal reasons).
“I think it was a good first weekend for us, the way we played,” Larkin said. “We haven’t been perfect through the first three games, but I like the way we approached each period.”
Adam Erne gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead at 4:26 of the first period on a 2-on-1, but Gabriel Vilardi scored 19 seconds later to tie it 1-1.
Kempe scored his fourth of the season to give the Kings a 2-1 lead at 14:40.
Video: LAK@DET: Kempe snipes puck home to put Kings ahead
Perron tied it 2-2 at 9:15 of the second period with a one-timer off a cross-slot pass. Dominik Kubalik.
Danault put Los Angeles back in front 3-2 at 16:18 with his own one-timer, but Perron again tied it 3-3 at 11:14 of the third period with a power-play goal from the left circle.
Kopitar made it 4-3 at 13:16. Husso made the initial save on Kempe, but he didn’t realize the puck had slipped out from under his pads, and Kopitar dove to knock it over the line.
“We were never able to get any momentum off our goals,” Lalonde said. “There were three times we scored where they seemed to score immediately after, but getting a point after trailing in the third period is a good sign.”
Kings defenseman Alexander Edler was a late scratch after being hit in the face with a puck during warmups, and forward Alex Iafallo left with a lower-body injury in the third period.
“Edler didn’t play, which is never a good sign, but we’ll know more in the morning,” McLellan said. “I don’t have any update on Iafallo yet.”
NOTES: Kings defenseman Sean Walker, who replaced Edler, was plus-2 in 11:41 of ice time. … Red Wings radio analyst Paul Woods called his 3,000th game. The 67-year-old played his entire 501-game NHL career for Detroit between 1977-84.
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