RECAP: Red Wings ‘battle through’ on the road for 4-3 shootout victory over Kings

LOS ANGELES -- In a hard-fought game featuring dramatic twists and turns rivalling those of the Hollywood blockbusters that are made outside of Crypto.com Arena, the Detroit Red Wings squandered a two-goal lead late in the third period but prevailed via shootout, 4-3, over the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday night.

“Obviously, we don’t want that to happen,” said Alex DeBrincat, who scored a power-play goal and added an assist for his second straight multi-point game and third multi-point performance of the season. “But to battle through that, good PK in overtime and to win in a shootout is great. Two points is two points, and it doesn’t matter how you get them. I thought we battled well today.”

Goalie Cam Talbot made 35 saves through regulation and overtime for Detroit (8-3-0; 16 points), which earned eight victories in October for just the fifth time in franchise history. As for Los Angeles (5-3-4; 14 points), it extended its point streak to seven straight games behind 24 saves from netminder Darcy Kuemper.

“These are never easy buildings to come into,” Talbot said. “A lot of travel and late nights, so to come out here and start the road trip off with two big wins is huge for the rest of the trip for sure.”

The Red Wings got the game’s first power play at 9:16 of the first period before the Kings received one of their own at 14:59. And while both clubs traded chances during those special-teams situations as well as throughout the entire opening frame, things were scoreless at the first intermission.

That changed midway through the second period, as Alex Laferriere’s short-handed goal gave Los Angeles a 1-0 lead at 12:39. However, Detroit matched that less than a minute later on the same power play when DeBrincat got Lucas Raymond’s pass and scored blocker side with a one-timer from the right face-off circle to tie it 1-1 at 13:22. DeBrincat’s goal, with a secondary assist going to Mortiz Seider, was his third in as many games.

“A couple of unfortunate bounces there on the power play, and they get a breakaway,” said DeBrincat, who also extended his point streak to four consecutive contests. “I think we’re pretty confident in our abilities on the power play, and to just not let it bother us. Go out there and put one in the net, so it was a good thing we could do it that quick and get the momentum back.”

Adding another on the man advantage for the Red Wings, Kasper netted his first goal of the night when he deflected Axel Sandin-Pellikka’s shot from just below the blue line to send the visitors in front for the first time at 15:46 of the second period. Andrew Copp also picked up a helper on Kasper’s third tally of the campaign, which made it 2-1, collecting his third assist in his last three games.

Kasper’s second strike of the game and third of the year came on an odd-man rush to give the Red Wings a 3-1 advantage at 14:45 of the third period. He finished a gorgeous spinning feed from Mason Appleton, with DeBrincat picking up the secondary helper on the impressive tic-tac-toe passing sequence.

“It was a really nice pass [by Appleton],” Kasper said. “He probably has eyes in the back of his head or something, I don’t know. That was a good pass. I just tried to put it in the net.”

After pulling Kuemper for a 6-on-5 advantage late in the third period, the Kings saw Corey Perry score two goals in 40 seconds -- first on a wrist shot at 17:47 then on a deflection at 18:27 -- to tie it 3-3.

“We didn’t win any type of important face-offs down the stretch,” Red Wings head coach Todd McLellan said about how those two goals allowed came about. “Even in overtime, and we have pretty good centermen. That was a little disappointing. But after that first one, they took a shot and both our D were playing up and they got underneath us.”

In the extra frame, it looked as if Kevin Fiala’s power-play goal had won it for Los Angeles at 4:21, but video review showed that the 29-year-old forward made contact with Talbot in the crease and it was overturned.

“I came down the hallway and, truth be told, my stick didn’t make it down the hallway,” Talbot said. “It was in a few pieces, then I heard Todd say, ‘Hold on, Talbs. We’re going to go out there and challenge it.’ So, then we all kind of just funneled back into the tunnel. I knew that Kev came right through my crease and I was kind of spun, so I was hoping for that call and we got it.”

That led to a shootout, where Raymond scored the lone goal for the Red Wings and Talbot denied all three attempts that the Kings tried to get past him.

“I give the guys credit for sticking with it,” McLellan said. “Recovering, finding a way to get the lead and then recover after we gave it up.”

NEXT UP: On Friday night, Detroit will complete its back-to-back set in Southern California when it squares off against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center.

WHAT WAS SAID

Kasper on how he found out Thursday’s game didn’t end in overtime

“We were all leaving, then we saw the replay and then we saw the replay. You kind of saw he was in the crease and people had contact there or something, and we just waited it out. Good for us that it wasn’t a goal and we got to win the game in a shootout. That’s always good for us.”

Kasper on DeBrincat’s play of late

“He’s a great player and a great scorer, so I tried to put him in good situations today on the power play.”

Talbot on Detroit’s strong start to the season

“We’re getting scoring up and down the lineup. Larks has been elite all season. He’s leading us right now and we look to him when we need to get going. He’s leading us in the right direction right now. Obviously, different guys are stepping up every night and that’s what you need to win in this League.”