The LA Kings skated to their third consecutive victory, as they defeated the Detroit Red Wings by a 3-1 final on Tuesday evening at Little Caesars Arena.

Neither team found the back of the net in the first period, despite a 9-5 advantage for the Kings in shots on goal. The Kings played a direct period but were not able to beat Detroit goaltender John Gibson on a pair of power plays in the opening 20 minutes.

Exactly at the game’s halfway mark, 30 minutes in, the Kings got the goal they deserved with their fourth line cashing in once again. Forwards Jeff Malott and Taylor Ward put in the work below the goal line to win the puck back, before Malott fed forward Samuel Helenius in the slot for the goal, his second of the season. Helenius’ goal marked the third straight game that line has scored, putting the Kings ahead 1-0.

On their first power-play look of the third period, the Kings doubled their advantage as forward Andrei Kuzmenko capped off a nice passing play with a goal from the low slot. Forward Kevin Fiala set up on the right side of the umbrella and fed forward Adrian Kempe down low. Kempe used a one-touch pass to Kuzmenko in the bumper position and he finished with a quick shot for his 11th goal of the season and a 2-0 lead.

Detroit snapped Anton Forsberg’s shutout bid with just over two minutes remaining in regulation, scoring 6-on-5 to pull back within a goal. After a scramble drill, the Kings held on for a bit but defenseman Moritz Seider fed the puck through the slot to forward Alex DeBrincat at the back post, where he buried from close range to get the Red Wings on the board, cutting the Kings lead to 2-1.

Inside 90 seconds left in the game, forward Corey Perry iced the game with an empty-net goal from distance, sealing the victory with a 3-1 final score.

Hear from Helenius, forward Warren Foegele and Head Coach Jim Hiller following tonight’s game.

Samuel Helenius

Warren Foegele
On his takeaways from tonight’s victory
I thought everyone, from goaltending, defense, forwards, everyone put forward a full 60 minutes there. It’s pretty awesome, when we can get everyone on the rope, how good of a team we can be.

On the direct mindset the team showed throughout the game
Yeah, I think the way we’re seeing the Sammy, Mally, Wordo line, all they do is just keep it simple and all three of them are on the same page. When you keep it simple and take it to the net, good things happen.

On being scratched last game and how he approaches a situation like that
Obviously, personally not ideal, but at the end of the day, the only thing I can control is my attitude and I always try to work as hard as I can. Hopefully I’m going to get a bounce here there. I thought tonight our line created a lot, probably could have had a goal or two. I get it, it’s a business and clearly right now I’m not producing. You just keep a good head on shoulders and continue to work hard, block shots when you can and just be a good teammate.

On his response game tonight and how he tried to make an impact coming back in
I don’t know, I just tried to keep it simple. Obviously coming back with Mooresie, we’ve got a lot of chemistry together and we like to play fast and direct. It’s really good to see him back because when he’s back, he uses his speed and I think both of us together, we’re really fast out there. The whole scene of being direct, it makes things much easier.

Jim Hiller
On a complete team effort in tonight’s win
You don’t like the last six minutes or so, because we were on our heels again, but prior to that, yeah, I really liked it. I think the first five minutes of the first period, you could see we had our legs, rolling four lines, getting good contributions out of everybody. I thought we moved the puck pretty well tonight too.

On his assessment of the power play tonight and Kuzmenko’s PPG
We entered pretty well, so you’ve got to do that, we entered pretty well. We had some time and space, we were more direct with the puck on the power play and then we haven’t had a lot of those this year, where you’re looking at it and you’re saying that’s high level of execution on Kuzy’s goal. We needed it. Really, really good to see. That was probably the most important goal of the game,

On another strong performance from the fourth line tonight
Yeah, they’re really building something for the three of them. I think they’re becoming a hit with our team. The guys are really appreciating what they’re doing. We’re leaning on them, they’re scoring pretty consistently but better than that, they’re in there on the forecheck, they’re hard on pucks, they don’t spend a lot of time in the d-zone. It’s been a real boost for us. They really have an identity and I think it’s helping to drive the whole team forward.

On Warren Foegele’s play coming back into the lineup tonight
Yeah, I mean that’s how Fegss plays. We saw it, he was around the net, he wasn’t shooting from distance, he was around the net, he jammed a couple, did a nice job on the penalty kill. That’s all he’s got to do. He’s got a long track record in the league, he’s a good player. It’s never great to sit out, but sometimes we all need a kick in the butt and typically, we respond.

On the decision to play Anton Forsberg tonight, even without the back-to-back
We had a schedule of how it was going to go, so the fact that one got canceled, we just didn’t like how this was a scheduled start for Forsy and if we pulled it, then there’s some different things that have to happen. Bucks talked to both the goaltenders and said that we saw we had it for this reason, we’re going to keep it the way we’re going and make sure that we’re not overplaying Kuemps.

Notes –
– Forward Samuel Helenius (1-0=1) scored his second goal of the season, extending his point streak (1-2=3) to a career- long third game, dating back exactly one week ago to the Kings’ win over the Rangers on Jan. 20 at Crypto.com Arena.
– Forward Andrei Kuzmenko (1-0=1) scored his 11th goal of the season tonight, his first career goal (1-1=2) in six games played against the Detroit Red Wings. The tally was Kuzmenko’s team-leading sixth of the year on the man-advantage and marked his third game-winning goal (GWG) of the campaign, which trails only Adrian Kempe (5 GWG) for the most by a Kings skater.
– Forward Corey Perry (1-0=1) also scored his 11th goal of the campaign, extending his point streak to a fifth consecutive appearance (2-3=5), dating back to Jan. 10 in Edmonton. Perry played in his 1,432nd career regular season NHL game this evening at Little Caesars Arena, tying Mike Gartner (1,432 GP) for 34th most in League history.
– Forward Jeff Malott (0-1=1) notched his fourth assist of the campaign on Helenius’ goal this evening, the third straight game in which Malott has provided a helper (0-3=3), dating back to Jan. 20 versus New York. This is the Burlington, Ontario, native’s first career point streak of such length.
– Forward Adrian Kempe (0-1=1) recorded his team-leading 23rd assist and 40th point (17-23=40) of the campaign with a primary set-up on Kuzmenko’s game-winning tally. Kempe extends his point streak to a fourth game (2-2=4), dating back to Jan. 17 in Anaheim.
– Forward Kevin Fiala (0-1=1) notched his 19th helper of the season and marked his sixth consecutive visit to Detroit with a point (2-8=10), dating back to Feb. 27, 2020, as a member of the Minnesota Wild.
– Defenseman Drew Doughty skated in his 40th career contest against the Detroit Red Wings, breaking a tie with Mattias Norstrom (39 GP) for the most games played against Detroit by a defenseman in franchise history.
– Goaltender Anton Forsberg made 26 saves on 27 shots to earn his ninth win of the campaign and improve his career record against the Detroit Red Wings to 4-0-1.

The Kings are scheduled to practice tomorrow at noon Eastern, 9 AM Pacific in Buffalo, in advance of Thursday evening’s game versus the Sabres.