Head To Head

The Kings have always played well against Detroit, and are 2-2-1 against the Red Wings this season.

Beyond that, the Kings are 68-51-25 against Detroit in the franchise’s 33 seasons.

But the Kings have never played the Red Wings in the playoffs.

A look at each game this season:

Game 1

Kings 1, Detroit 1

Nov. 3, Joe Louis Arena

Kings: 0 1 0 0-1

Detroit: 1 0 0 0-1

Coach Andy Murray seemed to be awe-struck after earning a tie to end a three-game trip with five of a possible six points. “. . . We battled . . . I’m coaching against Scotty Bowman, what a thrill!” Murray said. What could have made it downright euphoric would have been a goal by the Kings’ Brad Chartrand, whose breakaway short-handed effort with 28 seconds to play hit the crossbar. Ziggy Palffy scored for the Kings, taking advantage of a neutral-zone turnover by Sergei Fedorov and matching a power-play goal by the Red Wings’ Steve Yzerman.

Game 2

Detroit 3, Kings 1

Dec. 10, Joe Louis Arena

Kings: 0 1 0-1

Detroit: 1 1 1-3

After the game, Coach Andy Murray joined Dave Taylor, the team’s senior vice president and general manager, in giving officials Stephen Walkom, Greg Devorski and Francois Gagnon an earful for 20 minutes. At issue was the third-period penalty called on Glen Murray for slashing Pat Verbeek. Glen Murray also got a misconduct for arguing the call, and Detroit got a power-play goal from Vyacheslav Kozlov to finish off the Kings. Glen Murray scored the Kings’ goal on a power play in the second period.

Game 3

Kings 6, Detroit 3

Feb. 3, Staples Center

Detroit: 1 1 1-3

Kings: 0 4 2-6

Goals by Jozef Stumpel, Bryan Smolinski and Luc Robitaille in a 1:20 span of the second period overcame a 2-1 Detroit lead and helped the Kings, who had been struggling, to their first two-game winning streak since mid-

November. Sergei Fedorov’s two goals had been countered by one from Ziggy Palffy until the Kings’ deluge. Palffy scored again in the third period, and Glen Murray also added a goal.

Game 4

Kings 3, Detroit 2

Feb. 18, Joe Louis Arena

Kings: 0 2 1-3

Detroit: 1 1 0-2

Stephane Fiset turned back a breakaway by Steve Yzerman in the second period, and Luc Robitaille scored the deciding goal in the third period. Fiset had 33 saves, none bigger than on Yzerman’s breakaway, which came only seconds after Detroit had tied the score on Vyacheslav Kozlov’s goal. Ian Laperriere and Glen Murray also scored for the Kings. The victory was the Kings’ fifth in a row and came on the second leg of a seven-games-

in-11-nights trip in which they earned eight points to solidify their playoff position.

Game 5

Detroit 3, Kings 1

March 7, Staples Center

Detroit: 2 0 1-3

Kings: 0 0 1-1

First-period goals by Detroit’s Nicklas Lidstrom and Sergei Fedorov and an empty-net score by Pat Verbeek beat the Kings, who had heard scores of other games involving the Western Conference playoff race from Coach Andy Murray between the second and third periods. It was meant as an inspirational ploy, but the Red Wings held on.