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(Sports Network) - Nicklas Lidstrom notched two assists with the second helper giving him 1,000 points in his illustrious career to help the Detroit Red Wings take a 5-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings.
The six-time Norris Trophy winner got the 1,000th point of his career at the 3:24 mark of the third period. A left circle faceoff win by Henrik Zetterberg was won back to the point. Lidstrom gathered the puck and sent a hard pass down to the inside left circle for Zetterberg, who redirected the puck over the glove of Jonathan Quick.
Lidstrom is now just the eighth defenseman in NHL history to reach the 1,000- point plateau. He joins Ray Bourque, Paul Coffey, Al MacInnis, Phil Housley, Larry Murphy, Denis Potvin and Brian Leetch. He needs 28 points to tie Leetch. Also, Lidstrom is the 74th player to reach 1,000 points.
"It feels great and it's something I'm very proud of to reach that milestone," said Lidstrom.
Brian Rafalski had a goal and an assist while Kirk Maltby, Tomas Holmstrom and Jonathan Ericsson each scored a goal for the Red Wings, who have won three of their last four. Chris Osgood made 24 saves in the win.
Dustin Brown and Justin Williams each had a goal for the Kings, who have dropped their past two games. Quick allowed four goals on 31 shots in the loss.
"We looked at it as a challenge, obviously, but we're disappointed in the consistency in which we played," said Brown. "We had some good chances. I thought Osgood played really good. Especially in the second, I thought we had a lot of good chances."
Zetterberg's goal gave the Red Wings a 3-1 lead, but Los Angeles made it a 3-2 game with 8:03 to play as Williams' shot rang off the post and in for his second goal of the season.
However, Detroit got the two-goal lead back less than three minutes later as Maltby slapped a loose puck in the low slot that Quick slowed down, but it trickled into the net.
Rafalski's empty-net goal in the final moments of the game sealed the win.
The Kings got the only goal of the first period as a right circle faceoff saw the puck come back to Matt Greene, who blasted the shot on net and Brown banged in the rebound at the 5:41 mark.
Detroit, though, answered with two goals in the second period to take the lead.
After a faceoff win, Ericsson threw a shot on net from the left point that hit off the stick of a King and got past Quick at the 3:34 mark.
The Red Wings then took the lead on the power play as Holmstrom's slap shot from the high slot got past Quick for a 2-1 lead at the 8:47 mark. Lidstrom assisted on the goal.
Game Notes
Lidstrom has 229 goals and 771 assists over 1,336 games in his 18 seasons in the NHL...Detroit hosts Colorado on Saturday...Los Angeles continues its six- game road trip at Columbus on Saturday...Detroit has won five straight and nine of 10 against Los Angeles...Detroit went 1-for-6 on the power play while Los Angeles finished the game 0-for-5.
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