Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Kings' Quick makes 51 saves in 5-0 win over Wings

DETROIT (AP) Jonathan Quick bounced back from a shaky performance and handed the Detroit Red Wings their first shutout in nearly a year.
Quick made 51 saves for his 10th NHL shutout and defenseman Drew Doughty had three assists in the Los Angeles Kings' 5-0 victory over the Red Wings on Monday night.
Anze Kopitar had two goals, and Wayne Simmonds, Oscar Moller and Jack Johnson also scored for Los Angeles, which has won four of five overall and four straight against the Red Wings.
Dustin Brown added two assists to help Quick earn his second shutout this season.
``It's great and all to get all of those saves but at the end of the day, the two points is all that matters,'' said Quick, who struggled in Saturday' s 3-2 home overtime loss to the Minnesota Wild.
``I was looking to get back out and put that game behind me,'' he said.
Quick's 26 saves in the second period went a long way toward that. The Red Wings were last shut out on Jan. 12 in a 6-0 loss to the New York Islanders.
``Quick was excellent, especially in the second period when we took the two penalties (both by defenseman Alec Martinez). They threw a lot of rubber at him,'' Kings coach Terry Murray said. ``We couldn't get it out and we couldn't win a faceoff.''
Quick's most spectacular effort of the night came when he dove across the net to get his stick in front of Tomas Holmstrom's rebound shot during Detroit's first power play a little over 7:30 into the second period.
``Homer looked like he was going to score on a rebound, but he somehow came across and made a great save,'' Red Wings captain Nicklas Lidstrom said.
Jimmy Howard made 21 saves in taking the loss.
``Hats off to Quickie. He played a hell of a game. He stole that one,'' Howard said. ``He was in a zone. There's nothing you can do about it. He was stopping everything. I think we could have went all night and he probably still would have gave up zero. He was just in one of those zones.''
Doughty also praised Quick.
``Quicker was obviously unbelievable,'' he said. ``I don't think I've ever been in a game where the goalie stood on his head like that.''
Simmonds opened the scoring with 6:33 left in the first period when he put in a rebound from the slot for his fifth goal. Moller made it 2-0 with 6:21 remaining in the second, poking in a puck that had gotten through Howard for his first of the season. That goal came a little over two minutes after Los Angeles killed off the second of Martinez's two penalties.
Kopitar scored just 23 seconds into the third to give the Kings a 3-0 lead. He picked up a rebound of Brown's shot and put the puck past Howard for his 12th goal. Kopitar scored again at 2:59 and Johnson added a power-play tally at 6:03 to make it 5-0.
NOTES: Los Angeles D Willie Mitchell returned after missing 14 games with an undisclosed upper body injury. ... The stands were only about half-full following a winter storm that dumped several inches of snow on Sunday. The temperature was in single digits with a wind chill below zero. Detroit also hosted the relocated NFL game between the New York Giants and Minnesota Vikings, that had been scheduled to be played in Minneapolis on Sunday. ... Forward Marco Sturm, acquired by the Kings from Boston on Saturday, hasn't passed his physical yet with Los Angeles. He hasn't played this season because of a knee injury. ... Los Angeles D Matt Greene left the game in the second period due to an undisclosed upper body injury and didn't return. The team said his status would be updated on Tuesday. ... Kings D Rob Scuderi got a bloody mouth and left the game when he was accidentally struck by the stick of Red Wings forward Justin Abdelkader early in the third period. Abdelkader was given four minutes for high-sticking.


No comments: