Kings fall to Red Wings in shootout as losing streak reaches 4 games – Daily News

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LOS ANGELES — Top prospect Brandt Clarke’s season debut had to wait, the Kings’ new lines clicked early but not all that often and at the end of the night the Kings were owning up to their first four-game winless skid of the season.

They had a two-goal lead after one period but ended up slipping, 4-3 in a shootout, to the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night at Crypto.com Arena.

Adrian Kempe scored twice with both of his goals being set up by linemates Pierre-Luc Dubois and Alex Laferriere. Michigan native Matt Roy added a goal. David Rittich (24 saves) picked up his first loss as a King in his third appearance. Clarke, who was recalled Wednesday, was a healthy scratch, but winger Arthur Kaliyev returned to the lineup after watching Tuesday’s loss to Toronto from the pressbox.

Robby Fabbri bookended Detroit’s scoring with Jeff Petry tallying between Fabbri’s goals. Daniel Sprong dished out two assists and Alex Lyon made 40 saves. In the shootout, Lucas Raymond converted before a familiar foe, former Chicago Blackhawks star and three-time Stanley Cup champion Patrick Kane, sealed the Kings’ fate.

“At the end of the night, we were kind of disappointed with just leaving with one point, I think we played good enough to win,” Kempe said.

The 5-minute overtime featured some wild, end-to-end sequences including a Detroit breakaway and two game-on-his-stick moments for the Kings. Jordan Spence generated the first of a handful of sterling chances for the Kings. Kevin Fiala had a takeaway, and then a giveaway, which led to a breakaway for Detroit’s leading scorer, Alex DeBrincat.

With 4:17 left in regulation, Kempe notched his second goal of the game and 14th of the season. He and Dubois had apparent chemistry once again as Dubois found the man known as “Juice” atop the right circle for a shot that struck Lyon’s hip and caromed into the net for his eighth point in the last six games.

“P.L.’s line, with Laf and Adrian, (was) a real strong line for us tonight, they carried the load,” Kings coach Todd McLellan said.

That goal helped the crowd move past a scene that felt reminiscent of last week’s disappointing defeat at the hands of the rival Edmonton Oilers. The Kings had composted their 2-0 lead and found themselves trailing, 3-2, 5:24 into the third period.

The final tick of Detroit’s power play was not the last note of its offensive crescendo as the Red Wings scored an instant after their man advantage expired. Kane made a no-look pass to Sprong in the right circle for a one-timer. With all four penalty killers hovering around the net, it was Fabbri reaching the rebound first to pop it past Rittich for his second goal of the evening.

In the second period, the Red Wings flipped the script in terms of the quality of chances. Per Natural Stat Trick, they gave up nine high-danger chances in the first 20 minutes but only one in the middle frame, while generating three and scoring two goals.

“I look at the goals, they had more dangerous chances and didn’t score on them,” McLellan said. “With the first goal, the puck’s bouncing everywhere, the second one was a line change where we got caught deep in our end.”

The Red Wings evened the affair with 2:39 left in the period. Captain Dylan Larkin received the puck anew, just after he made an adroit zone entry, and moved it high to Petry. The Ann Arbor-born defenseman’s low-flying, seeing-eye slap shot from the right point beat Rittich to the far side.

Detroit had halved its deficit a second before the halfway mark of the game. Fabbri collected a rebound before skating from the right faceoff dot in his own zone all the way to the opposite blue line, making a pass and continuing directly to the net. He got the puck back and fended off Mikey Anderson as he slipped a shot through Rittich.

The Kings’ opening salvo was as effective as it was declarative, staking them to a two-goal lead and an 18-7 advantage in shots on net.

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