Zatkoff, Kings hand Red Wings fourth straight loss (with photos)
Photos by Andie Wojciak/MiHockey
By @StefanKubus –
DETROIT – Metro Detroit native Jeff Zatkoff entered Thursday with a 2-0 career record at Joe Louis Arena.
By Thursday’s end, though he wasn’t tested much in his third visit, the self-described “spectator” improved to 3-0, as his Los Angeles Kings topped the Detroit Red Wings, 4-1. Tyler Toffoli scored twice and added an assist for Los Angeles, while Zatkoff stopped 17 of 18 shots he faced. Mike Green scored Detroit’s lone marker, and Jimmy Howard took the loss in goal, allowing three goals on 30 shots.
“I thought our team was unbelievable tonight,” Zatkoff said. “I didn’t have to do much. Our response from Buffalo the way guys competed. I mean those two first two periods, I don’t think there was any doubt in anyone’s minds that we were winning that game. We just controlled the play, we used our size. I was a spectator most of the night, so it was fun to watch.”
On the Wings’ side, it was anything but “fun to watch” from an offensive perspective.
“There’s no easy answer,” Red Wings head coach Jeff Blashill said. “You dig in, you come tomorrow… we’ll try to get better through film, try to get better through a couple drills and come back on Saturday and come ready to win a hockey game.”
Blashill said the power play will certainly be one area the team works on going forward here. Their man-advantage unit entered Thursday ranked 26th overall.
“Our problem, in my opinion, we don’t have enough set up time, whether it’s we’re not winning enough battles when we’re facing pressure, whether it’s self-induced turnovers and we’re just not spending enough time in the zone,” Blashill said. “And when we do finally get set up, in the league teams do a good job of trying to keep you to the outside. We’ve gotta find ways to get to the inside.”
For the second straight game, the Wings gave up an early goal, as Derek Forbort struck just 21 seconds into the contest with a wrister from the point.
But the Wings struck back, as Green potted his seventh goal of the season at the 7:13 mark off a beautiful backhand feed from Luke Glendening. With the goal, Green put himself just two tallies behind Dylan Larkin for the team lead.
“A little deflating when they get that first one, but I thought we responded well and we were right back in it,” Green said. “It was just a matter of, once we were back in it, using that momentum to carry on. We’ve got to keep pushing.”
For a team that has made it increasingly evident it needs more shots on goal, the Wings were outshot 11-2 in the opening frame.
Poor defensive coverage down low in the Detroit zone allowed Nic Dowd to add one with 16.3 seconds left in the second stanza to put the Kings up 2-1 heading into the dressing room.
The Kings were out-shooting the Wings, 22-8, at that juncture of the tilt and L.A. entered Thursday with a 9-1-1 record when leading after two periods this season. Detroit, meanwhile, held an 0-8-0 mark when trailing after 40 minutes this year.
In the third period, Toffoli ensured both trends continued. At the 13:50 mark, just after the Wings had generated a pair of quality scoring chances, the puck went the other way and Toffoli broke away, racing in on Howard and pulling the puck across him to tuck it in the back of the net.
Detroit pulled Howard with just over five minutes to play and with a power play, but it was Toffoli who potted his second of the night, an empty-net marker to seal the win for L.A. at 4-1.
“I thought we were in it, we were playing a good game until the last ten minutes, but we need to find a way there at the end,” Green said. “Nyquist hit the post there and we’ve just got a find a way to put those ones in. We’ve gotta get a bounce here.”
It doesn’t get any easier for Detroit, as the Anaheim Ducks come to town on Saturday.