Kopitar scores 2, Quick stops 23 shots, Kings beat Wings 4-1

DETROIT -- Jonathan Quick made some spectacular saves to keep the Los Angeles Kings within a goal and they took advantage of the opportunity to come back and win.

Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar scored 2:10 apart late in the second period to put the Kings ahead and they went on to beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 on Tuesday night.

Quick made 23 saves, including some sprawling stops in the second period that kept the Kings within a goal.

"He made at least two saves on what looked like sure goals in the second period, and that changed the whole game," Kings defenseman Drew Doughty said. "We were giving up way too many chances, but he kept us in the game."

After Brown and Kopitar puts the Kings ahead, they pulled away in the third. Adrian Kempe scored early in the period and Kopitar's second goal of the game gave Los Angeles a three-goal cushion with 7-plus minutes left.

Kopitar leads the Kings with 11 goals, one fewer than he had all of last season.

"I'm feeling good this year, and maybe that's the whole difference," he said. "I'm confident about my game in a way that I wasn't last season. I played a lot of hockey last year before the season even started, with the Olympic qualifiers and the World Cup. I was tired before we even got going, and I had a bad year."

The Red Wings started strong, but couldn't recover when they failed to get another shot past Quick.

"He does it against lots of people, lots of nights," Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. "A lot of credit goes to him, but I still think we can get more net presence."

Detroit's Mike Green broke a scoreless tie late in the first period and Jimmy Howard finished with 32 saves.

"I had a few chances that I just have to put in the net," Gustav Nyquist said. "He's a good goalie who makes some of those crazy saves. We had enough chances to score more than one goal."

The Kings have won two straight after losing three in a row and seven of eight.

"We've got a lot of work to do before we are the team we want to be, but this was a big performance by everyone on our team," Los Angeles coach John Stevens said. "It wasn't just the top lines. It was everyone."

The Red Wings have lost five straight, one shy of their season-long skid from last month, after winning six of the previous nine games.

Game notes
Green ended an 18-game scoring drought and Red Wings captain Henrik Zetterberg extended his streak without a goal to 18 games. "Obviously, it's not fun when you don't score," Zetterberg said. "So I take big responsibility in that." ... Los Angeles began a four-game road trip. ... After most of the fans had left Little Caesars Arena, a few of them chanted, "Fire Hol-land! Fire Hol-land," referring to the team's general manager Ken Holland.

UP NEXT

Kings: Play Thursday night at Washington.

Red Wings: Host Montreal on Thursday night.

"We better have urgency on Thursday," Blashill said.

---

More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/tag/NHLhockey